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OUR MEXICANS 



BY THE 

Rev. ROBERT M. CRAIG 



NEW YORK 

The Board of Home Missions 

of the Presbyterian Church 

in the U. S. A. 

1904 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Copies Received 

MAY 16 1904 

Copyright Entry 

CLASS) 0u XXc. No. 
f L t * I* 

COPY B 






Copyright, 1904, by 

The Board of Home Missions 

of the Presbyterian Church 

in the U. S. A. 



" c c t « « • 



THE TROW PRESS, NEW YORK 



FOREWORD 

To know the history of our Church in our 
land is to be interested in Home Missions. 

Our Board of Home Missions is therefore 
placing before our young people — for general 
reading or for use in study classes — a series of 
sketches which trace the planting and progress 
of gospel truth among our Indians, Mexicans, 
Mormons, Mountaineers of the South, Alaskans, 
and the dwellers in Porto Rico and Cuba. A 
seventh book in this series introduces its read- 
ers to seven typical home mission heroes. 

This little library of seven volumes, written 
by those who know the work, is warmly com- 
mended for accuracy and attractiveness. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

The limits of this text-book have pre- 
vented any extended reference to the dis- 
covery, explorations, and conquest of New 
Mexico. The reader will find a fuller ac- 
count in the works of Bancroft, Prince, 
Haines, Storms, and Lummis. From these 
authors the writer of these pages has drawn 
freely and gratefully owns his obligations. 

R. M. C. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Discovery and Exploration 1 

II. Conquest and Colonization 12 

III. Our Mexicans 21 

IV. The Penitentes 34 

V. Sister Churches at Work 42 

VI. First Presbyterian Missions in New 

Mexico 48 

VII. Progress of Presbyterianism in New 

Mexico 54 

VIII. Early Missionaries 60 

IX. Our Plaza Schools 69 

X. Our Boarding-Schools 80 

XI. Personal Pictures ........ 89 

XII. Encouragements and Outlook .... 98 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Our Mexican Evangelists .... Frontispiece 

OPPOSITE 

{Rev. John L. Schultz "j page 
Rev. D. F. McFarland V . 51 * 
Rev. James M. Roberts J 

Rev. John A. Annin 61 

Rev. James A. Menaul 67 

The Allison School— First Pupils 1 

81 



}•• 



The Allison School — Present Buildings 

Pierson Hall 86 

Rev. Gabino Rendon 92 



OUR MEXICANS 



CHAPTER I 

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 

" Oh that thou wouldst . . . enlarge my coast!" 
— I Chron. iv: 10. 

Soon after Columbus had discovered Amer- 
ica, France and England came upon the 
scene as rival powers to dispute with each 
other and with Spain the right to these new 
possessions. But for many years the Span- 
iards met with little opposition in the South- 
west, except from the natives, in their strug- 
gle to extend the territory of Spain in the 
New World and find the stores of precious 
metal hidden away among tribes yet un- 
known. 

It was on June 17th, 1527, when Charles V 
was King of Spain, that an expedition, com- 
manded by Panfilo de Narvaez with Cabeza 
de Vaca as treasurer, bearing the title of 
high sheriff, and accompanied by five Fran- 
1 



2 OUR MEXICANS 

ciscan friars headed by Juan Xuarez, set 
sail from San Lucar de Barrameda with the 
avowed object of conquering and colonizing 
all the country from Rio de la Palsmas, on 
the east coast of Mexico, one hundred leagues 
north of Vera Cruz, to the southern extrem- 
ity of Florida. This included all the States 
of the Union bordering on the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, besides a part of northeastern Mexico 
itself, including New Mexico. 

The object of the expedition may be gath- 
ered from the petition of the leader of the 
expedition to the King of Spain. In this 
the petitioner proposes to traffic with the 
natives of the coast and to take thither re- 
ligious men and ecclesiastics to make known 
and plant the Christian faith. He then mod- 
estly asks, among other things, that for this 
service to king and country he be made 
governor and chief justice during his life, 
and captain-general, with adequate salary 
for each position; also that he receive for 
himself one-tenth of all the royal rents for- 
ever and that he be made adelantado (high 
admiral) of these territories for himself, his 
heirs, and his successors. 

This request was granted and a proclama- 
tion furnished which was to be made to the 
conquered, to the effect that God, our Lord, 
who created the heavens and the earth, gave 



EXPLORATION 3 

to one person — Saint Peter — the whole world 
for his kingdom, lordship, and jurisdiction; 
that one of the popes who succeeded Peter 
made a gift of these islands and territories 
to the Emperor and Queen; and that writ- 
ings were given which were to be seen if 
desired. The conquered are then called upon 
to recognize the Church as mistress and su- 
perior of the universe and the High Pontiff 
in its name. They were assured if they 
thus obey they will be received with love, 
but if not they are warned that they will be 
enslaved and brought into subjection to the 
Church and the yoke of their majesties. 

Armed with such authority Narvaez and 
his companions started with five vessels and 
six hundred men, and, after encountering 
violent winds and storms and desertions of 
men, they landed on the west coast of Florida, 
near Tampa Bay, in April, 1528. On the 
following Saturday the Spanish ensign was 
raised and the country taken for the King 
of Spain. 

Failures and disappointments led the com- 
mander to move westward, and so the expe- 
dition divided, the army marching inland, 
while the ships went along the shore looking 
for a harbor. 

On Sunday, May 1st, the parties sepa- 
rated, never to meet again. Little is known 



4 OUR MEXICANS 

of their course or their adventures except 
that the survivors, three Spaniards and a 
Negro, wandered for eight years before they 
reached the Gulf of California. 

From the most reliable sources of infor- 
mation it is gathered that in 1536 a party 
of scouts in northern Mexico found Cabeza 
de Vaca and the Negro, and soon after they 
reached San Miguel and then Old Mexico. 

Some writers are of the opinion that 
Cabeza in his wanderings touched certain 
places in New Mexico, while others contend 
just as vigorously that he never saw the 
country. Be that as it may, his story was 
of the deepest interest, and the Spaniards 
listening to it fancied themselves in posses- 
sion of the "Seven cities of Cibola" with all 
their stores of golden treasures. All Mexico 
was in a ferment. A general desire for 
exploration followed, and so in 1539 an ex- 
pedition was sent out under command of 
Vasquez de Coronado, who was the first to 
attempt the conquest of New Mexico and 
the exploration of this hitherto unknown 
territory. 

A small party under Marcos de Niza 
a Franciscan friar, was sent out to find 
Cibola. He was accompanied by Father 
Onorato, a brother monk, Estevanico, the 
Negro, and a number of Indians. 



EXPLORATION 5 

They started on March 7th, and after 
travelling along the coast of the Gulf of 
California twenty-five leagues they came to 
a desert. Crossing this they reached a city 
called Vacupa, from which the Negro was 
sent forward to explore. The exaggerated 
reports sent back by the Negro induced Mar- 
cos to advance. They passed through the 
Gila Valley, not far from the present city of 
Tucson, Arizona, and then onward until they 
came within sight of Cibola (Zuni), but here 
the Negro was captured and put to death. 

The friar, alarmed, decided to retire; but 
before doing so he ascended a high hill 
where he could see Cibola, raised a heap of 
stones, set up a cross, and under the text, 
"The heathen are given as an inheritance," 
took possession, naming the province "El 
Nuevo Regno de San Francisco" — The New 
Kingdom of Saint Francis. 

The Indians became enemies, and he re- 
turned with "more fear than food" to his 
place of starting. 

When the friar returned to Coronado the 
latter was so impressed that he sent off 
Melchior Diaz and Juan de Zaldivar to 
verify his statements, and with Niza he him- 
self went to Mexico to tell the story to Vice- 
roy Mendoza. 

There the friar stated that he had taken 



6 OUR MEXICANS 

possession of Cibola, that he had been in the 
city himself, and had seen the turquoise col- 
umns, the beautiful slave-girls, and the 
priceless feather cloaks of those who dwelt 
in the king's palace. He spoke of the 
emeralds and precious stones, of the rooms 
"lighted by jewels," and of the vessels of 
gold and silver; and soon the minds of the 
Spaniards were inflamed, and Niza was made 
provincial of the Franciscans, and the Church 
and State united in the cause of adventure. 

Soon an army of four hundred Spaniards 
and eight hundred Indians under Coronado 
was organized for the conquest of Cibola. 
The majority of those joining this expedi- 
tion were men of rank and social influence. 
They assembled at Compostella, one hundred 
leagues from Mexico, and two ships were 
ordered to follow the coast to transport bag- 
gage and other equipment. At this place of 
meeting the viceroy addressed the men on 
the importance of the expedition, and they 
took an oath on the Gospels to obey their 
general. The whole number consisted of 
fifteen hundred men, with about one thou- 
sand horses, one hundred and fifty European 
cows, and a large number of sheep — the lat- 
ter for the support of the troops and the 
colonization of the country. 

The army started in February, 1540, and 



EXPLORATION 7 

at Culican Coronado advanced with a small 
body of cavaliers and foot soldiers, leaving 
the main army to follow later. Nothing of 
importance happened until, in May, they 
reached the "Red House/' probably Casa 
Grande on the Gila. Here Coronado was 
disheartened, yet on June 23d he started in 
a northeasterly direction, and travelled for 
fifteen days. When nearing Cibola they 
saw some Indians, who uttered such pierc- 
ing cries that, it is said, "The Spaniards 
were so frightened that they saddled their 
horses wrong end foremost." On July 10th, 
1540, they reached an inhabited country, 
and came in sight of Cibola, standing on the 
ruins of old Zuni. The natives of the region 
were prepared for defence, and Coronado 
opened the attack. The Indians defended 
their town, but were defeated and fled, and 
in a short time the whole country was sub- 
jugated. There were seven cities, but the 
disappointment was so great that Niza was 
sent back in disgrace to Sonora, and Coro- 
nado reported: "He said the truth only in 
the names of the cities and the houses of 
stone." 

The main army followed on to Cibola by 
much the same route as Coronado had trav- 
elled. Before their arrival Coronado had 
concluded a peace with the natives, and 



8 OUR MEXICANS 

heard of another province of seven cities 
called Tusayan (Moqui), which the general 
at once sent Captain Tobar with twenty men 
to explore. Monk Juan de Padilla accom- 
panied the expedition. The Indians received 
them with kindness, but refused to allow 
them to enter, and the friar advised an at- 
tack. The Indians fled, but soon returned 
and gave in their submission. After this the 
army returned to Cibola, and about the same 
time Coronado sent twelve men under Don 
Garcia De Cardenas to discover and explore 
the great river to the east. 

He secured guides and provisions at Tu- 
sayan, crossed the desert, and discovered the 
river, now named Colorado, and its Grand 
Canon. 

Soon after a deputation under Alvarado 
was sent to Cicuye (Pecos), accompanied by 
a Turk called Bigotes. They reached Acuco 
(now Acoma) after five days' journey. The 
Indians became friendly, and Alvarado 
pressed on to Tiguez, probably in the valley 
of Puerco, and was well received. He liked 
Tiguez, and sent word to Coronado to winter 
there, while he pressed on to Cicuye, prob- 
ably Santa Ana. Coronado came on to 
Tiguez and there saw El Turco. Afterward 
Tiguez was taken and all the inhabitants 
imprisoned or put to death. 



EXPLORATION 9 

In 1541 Coronado marched eastward in 
search of Quivira, the land of El Turko. 
On finding this city he was sorely disap- 
pointed, the Turk was put to death, and the 
general returned to Cicuye. Next winter 
Jemez was visited, and immediately surren- 
dered. Then other districts — probably San 
Juan, San Ildefonso, and Santa Clara — 
were visited. The people fled, and he then 
marched onward to Baraba, now Taos. The 
pueblos in Socorro district were visited also 
by one of the expeditions sent south. 

The winter of 1541 was spent at Tiguez. 
Here the general was thrown from his horse. 
This accident disarranged the plans, and it 
was decided to evacuate the country. The 
homeward march began in 1542. Two 
monks, Fray Jean de Padilla and Padre 
Louis, remained behind in the hope of con- 
verting the natives. The former went to 
Quivira, where he was at once murdered. 
Louis went to Cicuye, but nothing more was 
ever heard of him. 

For forty years no efforts were made to 
colonize New Mexico. In 1581 a Franciscan 
friar named Augustine Rodriguez, fired by 
religious ardor, asked for authority to enter 
the country and undertake the conversion of 
the natives. This was granted, and prepa- 
rations were at once commenced. The friar 



10 OUR MEXICANS 

was accompanied by two brother monks, 
Juan de Santa Maria and Francisco Lopez, 
twelve soldiers, and a number of servants. 

They followed the Rio Conchos to its 
meeting with the Rio Grande, thence up that 
river to Puera, about eight miles from Albu- 
querque. There the soldiers left Rodriguez 
and returned to their starting-point. The 
priests went on to Galisteo, and were so 
pleased that they determined to send Juan 
de Santa Maria to Spain for missionaries, 
but on his journey south he was killed at 
San Pablo and his body burned. The two 
other priests stayed at Puera for some time, 
but shortly afterward Francisco was killed 
by an Indian. Rodriguez then went to San- 
tiago, but soon met the same fate, and his 
body was thrown into the stream. 

When tidings came to Mexico of the death 
of the friars an interest was roused; Don 
Antonio de Espejo offered to pay the ex- 
penses and command the expedition in per- 
son, and on December 15th, 1582, he set out 
on his exploration. 

They journeyed northward, meeting Ind- 
ians and visiting pueblos. They visited 
Isleta and Puera, where they heard of the 
death of the friars. After seeing the towns 
previously visited by Coronado and his men, 
in 1583 they started homeward. 



EXPLORATION 11 

During the next fourteen years a number 
of applications were made for a contract 
to conquer and colonize New Mexico,, and 
several attempts were made, but not till 
1598-99 did Juan de Onate succeed in the 
undertaking for the King of Spain. 



CHAPTER II 

CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION 

" This land shall be your possession before the Lord." 
—-Num. xxxii: 22. 

In 1595 Don Juan de Onate offered to 
furnish two hundred men at his own expense 
for the conquest and colonization of New 
Mexico. This was accepted, and he was 
given five years to complete the work. In 
1598 the expedition was ready and started 
northward. 

The force numbered four hundred men, 
one hundred and thirty accompanied by their 
families, also ten Franciscan friars, eighty- 
three wagons, and seven thousand head of 
cattle, and an escort of Chichuneca troops. 

On April 20th they reached the Rio 
Grande, where Onate took formal possession 
of New Mexico for God, the king, and him- 
self. Religious services were held in a 
chapel built for the occasion. Many of the 
soldiers here deserted and returned to Mex- 
ico, but the settlers remained. On May 4th 
the army crossed the Rio Grande at El Paso, 
12 



COLONIZATION 13 

and proceeded northward until Socorro was 
reached by Onate and fifty-four men, where 
the natives made them welcome. Thence the 
advance party proceeded northward to Cia, 
and from San Felipe to Santo Domingo, 
which was chosen as head-quarters and where 
a convent named Ascencion was founded. 
One of the party was sent back to bring up 
the rest of the wagons, and the colonists 
joined the advance party in August. The 
Spaniards met with no opposition in their 
marches, and on July 7th, 1598, representa- 
tives of thirty-four villages went to Santo 
Domingo and swore allegiance to their new 
masters. Later all went to San Juan, which 
remained some years the capital and centre 
of the colony. After making a tour of the 
provinces, work was begun on La Ciudad 
de la Santa Fe de San Francisco — the city 
of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis, the 
present Santa Fe. 

On August 18th the rear-guard arrived, 
and on September 7th a mission chapel was 
consecrated with great ceremony. Two days 
later an assembly was held, at which native 
chieftains expressed willingness to have 
friars at their pueblos and to obey their in- 
structions, whereupon the monks were sent 
out to the different pueblos. 

Nothing of importance occurred during 



14 OUR MEXICANS 

the next year except the conquest of the 
Acomas, who alone remained enemies. After 
that for eighty years little is known of 
New Mexican history. The colony pros- 
pered, villages sprang up in the valley of 
the Rio Grande, and the priests were zealous 
in baptizing Indians and founding missions. 
In 1599 more troops arrived, and eight friars 
joined the colony. 

San Juan remained the capital until 1640, 
when it was moved to Santa Fe. 

During these years Romanism spread rap- 
idly. In 1608 the Franciscan records show 
eight thousand converted, and in 1621 the 
records show sixteen thousand five hundred 
converts, while in 1626 over thirty-four thou- 
sand Indians had been baptized and forty- 
three churches erected. 

Soon, however, discontent appeared. The 
severity of the Spanish laws, civil and ec- 
clesiastical, the inquisition which had been 
established, and the tribute which was ex- 
acted to support the garrison, the missions, 
and the churches, fanned the fire of rebellion 
until, in 1645, it broke out, but was soon 
crushed. Again in 1650 a plot was formed 
to kill all the soldiers and the priests and 
drive the rest from the country, but this also 
was discovered and promptly frustrated. In 
1675 several friars were killed. Constant 



COLONIZATION 15 

troubles arose and paved the way for the 
storm which was soon to burst upon the 
colony. 

The 10th of August, 1680, was fixed as 
the day for the uprising. The knotted rope 
— their call to arms — had been sent from 
pueblo to pueblo, but the plot was discovered 
two days previously, and the only hope was 
in an immediate attack. Accordingly, on 
August 9th, the settlements were attacked, 
and about four hundred Spaniards perished. 
The final stand was made at Santa Fe, where 
a thousand Spaniards were besieged. After 
a gallant sortie, in which many of the Ind- 
ians were killed, on August 20th it was de- 
cided to abandon the city. On the follow- 
ing day the first colonists of New Mexico 
left the city of Santa Fe to face the perils 
of the long march to the south. After suf- 
fering severe hardships they reached El 
Paso, where they determined to winter. A 
few priests remained behind, but not one 
escaped martyrdom. They were subjected 
to shocking cruelties, and, as Prince says, 
"so utterly did the mild nature of the Pueblo 
appear to have been changed in half a cen- 
tury and so terribly did the persecutions 
which the misdirected zeal of some of the 
ecclesiastics inaugurated react on others, many 
of whom were men of great kindness and 



16 OUR MEXICANS 

benevolence, and all of whom had shown 
marked self-sacrifice and zeal, that decrees 
were issued for the destruction of every 
vestige of the Christian religion and the 
Spanish authority." 

Early in 1681 the colonists who had fled 
were re-enforced, and Governor Otermin at- 
tempted the reconquest of New Mexico, but 
failed. Nothing of importance was accom- 
plished until 1691, when Don Diego de 
Vargas undertook the generalship of the 
Spanish army, and in 1692 began the march 
for Santa Fe, which surrendered on Septem- 
ber 13th. The Indians received absolution 
for their sins, and a thousand children were 
baptized. 

After a trip through the North, Vargas 
returned to Santa Fe and recommended to 
the Viceroy of New Spain that garrisons be 
established in different towns; that five hun- 
dred families and one hundred soldiers be 
sent at once; and that blacksmiths, carpen- 
ters, and other mechanics be sent from the 
jails of Zacatecas, Queretaros, and Rosaro 
to the colony to act as teachers and to search 
for mines. 

After visiting nearly every pueblo of 
importance, baptizing two thousand two 
hundred and fourteen natives and rescuing 
seventy-four Spanish women and children, 



COLONIZATION 17 

Vargas arrived at El Paso on December 20th, 

1692, and at once commenced preparations 
for colonizing the province. On October 11th, 

1693, he set out with a new expedition of 
fifteen hundred persons, including seventeen 
friars. They met with suspicion and dis- 
trust; yet after long marches, anxiety, and 
battles, by November 24th, 1696, all the pue- 
blos had submitted except Acoma, Santa 
Clara, Santa Domingo, and Cochiti. 

With the exception of some outbreaks by 
wandering tribes of Indians the eighteenth 
century was one of comparative quiet. 

In 1796 the Franciscan fathers took a 
census of the civilized pueblos, in which were 
found 14,167 whites and 9,453 Indians. In 
1798 there were 15,031 whites and 9,732 
Indians, while in 1799 Governor Chacon's 
report gives 18,826 whites and 9,732 Ind- 
ians, Santa Fe at that time having a popula- 
tion of 3,795. 

The nineteenth century was to bring many 
changes in the conditions and government of 
New Mexico. In 1803 the United States 
secured from France the Louisiana Pur- 
chase, and Spain became somewhat uneasy 
at the rapid growth of this new republic. 
Traders were looked upon with suspicion, 
and questions of boundary were constantly 
causing trouble. Texas had been settled by 



18 OUR MEXICANS 

Spaniards as early as 1690, and now, when 
the United States claimed territory as far 
west as the Rio Grande, numerous conflicts 
arose. 

It was in 1807 that Zebulon M. Pike vis- 
ited New Mexico by mistake. He had been 
sent from St. Louis to pacify the Kansas 
and Osage Indians and to explore the region 
of the Arkansas and Red rivers. He was 
instructed not to offend the New Mexicans, 
and to keep clear of their territory. After 
finding Pike's Peak the party moved south- 
ward in search of the Red River, and soon 
they reached a stream which they supposed 
to be the river they sought. They built a 
fort and raised the Stars and Stripes. They 
were soon visited by a company of horsemen 
who informed them that they were on New 
Mexican soil, and that the governor required 
their presence in Santa Fe to explain the 
purpose of their errand. After visiting 
Santa Fe they were taken to Chihuahua, 
Mexico, where they were detained for some 
time and then sent back to the United States. 

In 1819 a movement began in Mexico 
against Spanish control. Spain and New 
Mexico became a Mexican department in- 
stead of a Spanish province, and in two 
years New Mexico became a territory of the 
Republic of Mexico. 



COLONIZATION 19 

In 1837, because of taxation, a revolution 
broke out, and a new government was or- 
ganized, which, however, was short-lived, 
and New Mexico was received again as a 
Territory of Mexico. 

It will be remembered that while Texas 
won her independence in 1835, Mexico had 
not acknowledged it, and so when Texas 
sought annexation to the United States in 
1845 and obtained it, war resulted. 

The feeling in New Mexico was that the 
Territory would advance more rapidly under 
American than under Mexican rule. So 
when General Kearney, in August, 1846, 
reached Santa Fe, he took possession without 
a shot being fired or a drop of blood shed, 
and on September 22d New Mexico was 
proclaimed a part of the United States, un- 
der the name of "The Territory of New 
Mexico." 

The caravan trade with Santa Fe began 
early in the nineteenth century. Within 
twenty-five years the value of goods im- 
ported amounted to $90,000 per annum, and 
by 1846 to $1,750,000. 

New Mexico advanced rapidly. Railroads 
succeeded the wagon-train, new life brought 
business and prosperity, and the dreaming 
of centuries became forever a thing of the 
past. Mines are being developed. Agri- 



20 OUR MEXICANS 

culture is being pressed in the Pecos Valley, 
in the valleys of the Rio Grande and the 
San Juan, while flocks of sheep and herds 
of cattle everywhere prove the advancing 
prosperity. 



CHAPTER III 

OUR MEXICANS 

" We wait for light . . . bvi we walk in dark- 
ness." — Isa. Hx. 9. 

To speak of the Spanish-speaking people 
living within our gates as " Mexicans/ ' in 
contradistinction to Americans, is to use a 
term that is not only misleading, but unjust 
to this people and hurtful to the best inter- 
ests of the Southwest. Let us not forget 
when the term "Mexican" is used with refer- 
ence to part of our population that, while 
there is some difference in race and blood 
between the descendants of the Spanish set- 
tlers of New Mexico and the later emigrants 
from Europe, Asia, and Africa, if anybody 
is entitled to the name ' 'American' ' it surely 
is the people who are descendants of men 
and women who lived in New Mexico when 
the ancestors of these later comers were liv- 
ing in poverty in some European hamlet or 
Asiatic village. 

Let us not forget that no one, no matter 
what his color or circumstances, has a right 
21 



22 OUR MEXICANS 

to arrogate to himself the name "American" 
to the exclusion of this splendid race who 
have been Americans longer than any Son 
or Daughter of the Revolution, or than any 
family that can trace its ancestry back to 
the Mayflower. Our Mexicans are the two 
hundred and fifty or three hundred thousand 
people of Spanish origin, of whom at least 
two hundred thousand are residents of New 
Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, California, and 
Texas. 

Spanish Origin 

The first attempt to colonize New Mexico 
was made by Castano de Soso in 1590. 
With one hundred and seventy persons — 
men, women, and children — he entered the 
country by way of the Pecos Valley, intend- 
ing to plant a colony. He went almost as 
far as the present boundary of Colorado and 
then moved south down the Rio Grande Val- 
ley, but disaster overtook this and several 
other attempts to settle New Mexico. 

In 1598, as has been seen, Ofiate made 
another attempt to colonize the country. 
Besides a number of Franciscan friars, he 
had about two hundred men, several with 
families, and eighty wagons and seven thou- 
sand cattle. This company travelled up the 



OUR MEXICANS 23 

Rio Grande as far as Rio Chama, where they 
settled and built a church. This was the 
first Spanish settlement in New Mexico, and 
was named San Gabriel or San Juan de los 
Caballeros. 

Soon after this a number of other settle- 
ments were effected, the principal of which 
was at Santa Fe in 1607 or 1608. 

In the revolution of 1680 these colonies 
were broken up and the colonists driven 
from the country. But in 1693 a party from 
Mexico reached Santa Fe without interrup- 
tion, and began anew the recolonization of 
the country. To-day in New Mexico are 
found the descendants of these Spanish con- 
querors and colonists. 

As the tourist looks from the car-windows 
or alights from the train he sees and hears 
much that surprises and often leads to very 
incorrect opinions. He forgets that for more 
than three centuries these people have lived 
far from the busy world, and although of 
late years the railroad has come, bringing 
with it new civilization, yet New Mexico 
still remains a land of quaint and curious 
customs. One bent on investigation sees the 
men and women, of short and dark visage, 
wearing their sombreros and rebosas, guid- 
ing their caravans of bridleless donkeys 
along the street as they call out, "Liana, 



M OUR MEXICANS 

liana 9 (wood, wood), or " albuquoques" 
(apricots), and such merchandise. As he 
hears an unknown tongue in the country 
that is our very own, and sees what he is 
inclined to call a "foreign people," he at 
once thinks of the cowardly Spaniard of 
whom he has heard, stealing from tree to 
tree in order, if possible, to pierce the in- 
vader with his stiletto. 

But the average Mexican, doubtless affect- 
ed by the climate of the Southwest, has 
hardly enough of ambition to run about from 
place to place, and as a race they seem fond 
of putting off any task as long as possible. 
It is this peculiarity that has led to the say- 
ing that the Mexican lives in the land of 
manana — to-morrow. Though this name may 
well be applied to many, and though the 
majority of the people are poor in the ex- 
treme, yet many of them are quite industri- 
ous and make a fair living from their little 
ranches and flocks of sheep and goats, while 
others engage in business with considerable 
success. 

In the manner of living and social customs 
of this people, while there is much to sad- 
den, there is also much from which we may 
all learn lessons. 

The people live mostly in houses built of 
adobes. The adobe may be simply a "sod" 



OUR MEXICANS 25 

peeled from the lawn, but the real adobe is 
a mixture of mud and straw put into a box 
two feet long, eight inches wide, and four 
inches deep, and then turned out in the sun 
to dry. These "adobe brick" are laid upon 
each other in a mortar of their own mud, 
the floors are of native earth, and the roof 
is covered with poles, called vigas, crossed 
with branches, which in turn are covered 
with clay and gravel. 

There may or may not be small openings 
to let in the light and air. The houses are 
usually very small, consisting of only one 
or two rooms, into which a whole family is 
crowded. There they live, and eat, and 
sleep — a custom which is not at all favorable 
to the development of the true moral nature. 
Notwithstanding their humble homes, the 
average Mexican is hospitality personified. 
He is always kind and polite and ready to 
entertain. I have known whole families to 
leave their only room, insisting on placing at 
the disposal of the stranger everything in 
their little home, and in sharing their brown 
beans and their quenchless chili, their came 
and huevos (eggs) with the stranger. They 
have the scriptural grace of hospitality. 

In the home the children have special 
reverence for their parents, and the old are 
carefully looked after. The hombre rules 



26 OUR MEXICANS 

supreme, and the wives and daughters serve 
their lords and masters. 

Many customs remind one of Bible lands 
in Bible times. The way they prepare their 
food, plough their lands, thresh their grain 
and separate it from the chaff; the way they 
mix the straw and chaff with mud and mould 
the sun-dried bricks; the way they herd 
their cattle and watch their sheep, and carry 
burdens on their heads, and glean and gather 
up their crops — these and a thousand other 
things remind one forcibly of the land in 
which our Saviour lived two thousand years 
ago. 

But while it is true that the Mexicans re- 
tain many of their old customs and notions, 
and are slow to change them, the wonder is 
that during their fifty years within the 
bounds of the United States so much has 
been accomplished. 

The Roman Catholic clergy, French and 
Italian, for ages have held complete sway 
over the minds and bodies of this people. 
As nothing was done for either their educa- 
tion, their elevation, or their comfort, it is 
surprising that the work of assimilation ad- 
vances so steadily. Notwithstanding the de- 
nunciations of wrathful priests who threaten 
their people with anathema and excommuni- 
cation if they send their children to the 



OUR MEXICANS 27 

schools or sell property to "those Protes- 
tants/' the very people thus denounced are 
pleading for our mission schools. 

We certainly have an open door. Preju- 
dices are disappearing. New interest is 
being manifested in education and general 
progress. The Mexicans are desirous of 
bettering their condition, and are willing to 
give up their old customs, the language and 
even the religion of their fathers, when they 
are convinced that a better is offered. 

Educational Conditions 

The Annual Report of the Superintendent 
of Schools of New Mexico for 1901 shows 
seventy- three city schools, with an average 
attendance of 4,902 out of a school popula- 
tion of 12,321, or a little more than thirty 
per cent, of the school population. But in 
the cities our schools — and they are good 
ones — are largely attended by American 
children rather than the bright-eyed Mexican 
boys and girls. 

The same report shows six hundred and 
twenty-one "schools" in the counties open 
for an average of four and a third months 
in the year with an average attendance of 
23,412 out of a school population of 62,864. 
In other words, rather more than one-third 



28 OUR MEXICANS 

of the entire school population attend school 
for one-third of a year. 

This is a great improvement in the last 
ten years, but the question of better school 
accommodation and better education for the 
thousands of the native population who at 
no distant day are to be the voters not only 
in New Mexico, but in the United States, is 
a very serious one. It is a just source of 
pride to have good schools in our towns and 
cities, expending annually $16.74 per capita 
on the 8,150 pupils in attendance; and well- 
equipped higher institutions, supported by 
the public fund, spending $159-66 per capita 
annually on the 907 pupils enrolled. But 
it is no wonder that the Superintendent of 
Education should remark, "This is entirely 
unfair," and then enter a strong appeal for 
the 27,984 on whose education there is ex- 
pended only $4.94 per capita. Here centres 
the need and value of our mission schools, to 
which reference will be made in a future 
chapter. 

Religious Conditions 

With the educational disadvantages to 
which the Mexican people have been sub- 
jected little can be expected of their relig- 
ious condition. 



OUR MEXICANS 29 

When one reads the story of the introduc- 
tion of Roman Catholicism into New Mexico 
he cannot wonder at the present condition 
of the people whose religion is based on such 
a foundation. 

The treatment of the Indians, subdued by 
the troops, baptized wholesale by the priests, 
and enslaved as well, is abundant reason 
why the first Franciscan priest, who came 
with Coronado in 1540, suffered death at 
their hands, and why Rodriguez and his com- 
panions, who came in 1582, suffered a simi- 
lar fate, and for the wholesale slaughter in 
1680. 

Little can be said for a system which was 
for three centuries or more the established 
religion of the Mexicans, which was recog- 
nized by peculiar privileges, which was with- 
out competition, which was in fact a military 
hierarchy in control of the province, and yet 
which to-day would have its adherents in 
the darkness and superstition of the Middle 
Ages but for the enlightening and elevating 
influences of American civilization and Prot- 
estant missions. 

Even fifty years ago Romanism demanded 
successive feast-days and parades, many of 
which are still observed, until the life of the 
people was robbed of all progress and enter- 
prise attendant upon diligent labor. Super- 



30 OUR MEXICANS 

stition is yet encouraged. Miracle-working 
is still claimed and trusted. Images are 
carried to the bedside of the sick, and the 
sick and lame are carried to the churches to 
be cured of their diseases. The sacred host 
is paraded through the streets with great 
pomp, while the people kneel as the proces- 
sion passes. 

The patron saint, "our Lady of Guada- 
lupe,' ' is one illustration of many that could 
be given of the priestly impositions prac- 
tised upon this misled people. Here is the 
tradition as given by the Rev. T. F. Wallace : 

The virgin of Guadalupe, patroness of 
the Romish Church in Mexico, made her first 
appearance to the poor Indian, Juan Diego. 
She was seen by him in a rainbow over the 
hill Tonan in Topeyacac in the early morn- 
ing of December 12th, 1531. On first seeing 
her, he exclaimed: 

"I am in the paradise of my forefathers/' 

The salutation of the virgin was in this 
wise: 

"My son, Juan Diego, whom I love as 
I do a little delicate child, how art thou?" 

She then informed him that she wanted 
him to be bearer of a message from her to 
the Bishop Zumarraga, saying: 

"Thou wilt say to him that the mother of 
the true God sends him word that he is to 



OUR MEXICANS 31 

build for me a temple in which I can show 
the long-ago motherly affection I had and 
still have for the people of your race." 

Juan Diego took the message to the bish- 
op, and returned to the virgin, telling her 
that his worship, although he listened to the 
message, took little notice of it; and the poor 
Indian besought the virgin that she would 
choose some other ambassador. He was 
assured that he alone would suit her. 

According to the account, Juan Diego 
tried to avoid compliance with the virgin's 
command, but she appeared again to him. 
Although he excused himself, alleging sick- 
ness of an uncle and a nephew, she was not 
willing to release him, but sent him at once 
to the hill Tonan to cut and bring her such 
flowers as he might find there. Juan Diego, 
returning with the flowers, presented them 
to the virgin in his ayate, a cloth made of 
the fibre of the maguey, used as a manto 
(mantle) by the Indians. Touching the 
flowers, the virgin ordered Juan Diego to 
carry them to the bishop as the sign he had 
asked to satisfy him that the true mother of 
God had sent Juan Diego to him. 

In a familiar picture Juan is represented 
in the presence of the bishop and his famil- 
iars; he has just opened up his ayate, in 
which he carried the flowers. 



32 OUR MEXICANS 

These fall to the floor, and, lol to the 
amazement of bishop, Indian, and all, the 
virgin is seen painted upon the ay ate, just 
in the same form that she is seen in every 
Roman Catholic church and house in Mexico, 
in every kind and size of painting, engrav- 
ing, or sculpture. 

The miners carry a small picture of her 
hung about their necks, and, of whatever 
else they may divest themselves while work- 
ing down in the deep silver-mines, this is 
never laid aside. In nearly every mine they 
have an image or picture of her placed in a 
rude shrine, and before it, ever burning, one 
or more candles. The mule, donkey, and 
stage drivers carry the same picture hung 
about their necks. The women, rich and 
poor, wear breastpins with her image on 
them. 

The greatest feast-day in Mexico (Decem- 
ber 12th) is that celebrated in honor of the 
appearance cff Nuestra Seiiora de Guadalupe. 

There is no doubt but more honor is shown 
and more sincere worship rendered to this 
patroness of Mexico, and more trust placed 
in her by the women and the ignorant masses 
in the republic, than in the only begotten 
Son of God. No wonder that a missionary 
who has come in contact with these abomi- 
nations should say: 



OUR MEXICANS 33 

"The Roman Catholic Mexican worships 
the mother of Christ, his grandmother, his 
father, his grandfather, his heart, his side, 
his cross — in short, anything, or any person, 
but Christ himself. They pluck the diadem 
from the brow of King Jesus in order to 
give it to the Pope of Rome/' 

These were some of the conditions of the 
New Mexican people when the first Protes- 
tants entered the territory fifty years ago, 
and which are still found in many localities 
among this interesting but misled people 
to-day. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE PENITENTES 

" Going about to establish their own righteousness.* 
— Rom. x: 3. 

Strange, yet true, that none of our ency- 
clopaedias give any account of the Order of 
Penitentes in the United States. It is stated 
on good authority that the Pueblo Indians 
had an ancient custom of holding a peniten- 
tial fast for four days in each of their 
pueblos. On that occasion a small number 
of men and women were selected to bear the 
sins of all. These were shut up in their 
sacred council chamber. Before each was 
placed a "tinaja" of water, of which they 
must not drink, while every morning a dele- 
gation came to wash their feet. This con- 
tinued throughout the four fast-days, and 
is the only form of penitence, except what is 
imposed by the Church, known to have ex- 
isted among them. 

The idea of the whip as a means of grace 
was long ago known in the history of na- 
tions. The Egyptians, Spartans, and Ro- 
34 



THE PENITENTES 35 

mans all practised whipping as an atonement 
for sin. As early as the eleventh century 
it was advocated and practised by the car- 
dinals, and in 1220 the first fraternity for 
regular and public self -whipping was found- 
ed. A little later we read that rich and poor 
walked with leathern whips through the city 
streets whipping themselves until they drew 
blood from their tortured bodies, and, amid 
sighs and tears, they sang their penitential 
hymns and entreated the compassion of the 
Deity. 

For a century after this flagellation was 
practised in different European countries. 
Efforts were sometimes made, it is true, by 
the Romish Church to stop the practice, but 
again and again it was revived in Italy, 
Spain, and France. 

About three hundred years ago the "Order 
of Los Hermanos Penitentes ,, was founded 
in Spain, its object being "religious study 
and conversation/ ' and, so far as known, the 
members of this organization were "men of 
good morals and good sense/ ' In course of 
time this order came to old Mexico, and 
afterward, when the Franciscan friars came 
to New Mexico, they introduced this system 
of self-torture. 

It is said that the first public penance in 
New Mexico was celebrated in 1594 by Juan 



36 OUR MEXICANS 

de Oiiate and his men. The system degen- 
erated more and more as the years passed, 
until the present "monstrosity had devel- 
oped." When this order came to New Mex- 
ico they found traces of the Penitentes 
among the Indians previously referred to, 
but nothing so gross as the customs intro- 
duced by the Franciscan friars. 

The number of Penitentes in New Mexico 
in 1903 is variously estimated from twenty- 
five to thirty-five hundred. They all claim 
allegiance to the Romish Church. Their be- 
lief is founded on the use of the whip, the 
cactus, and the cross as instruments of tor- 
ture. 

The only season in which the Penitentes 
practise their religious rites is Lent. During 
these weeks the traveller through the canons 
or near their meeting-places must not be 
surprised to witness their processions as they 
leave the morada (place of meeting), led by 
their priests and so-called bands of music, 
the latter making all kinds of noises on their 
musical instruments. These are followed 
by a number of men, each carrying on his 
bare shoulders one end of a huge cross, while 
the other end, about twenty feet distant, is 
dragging on the ground. After these come 
another band, stripped to the waist, each 
having a huge cactus bound over his bare 



THE PENITENTES 37 

shoulders, back, and breast. Then follow 
other men, also bare to the waist, lashing 
themselves with whips made from the amole 
or soap-weed, until their backs are one mass 
of raw flesh. Singing their weird song they 
pass on to an elevation about half a mile or 
more from the starting-point, and there these 
deluded creatures prostrate themselves be- 
fore the cross. 

The whips used are about three feet long. 
These have braided handles, with a lash 
about four inches across, and braided also 
for about half its length, and with long, 
hair-like tails. This is the "Disciplina" of 
penance. 

My mind goes back to one Good Friday 
night, when with a Mexican friend I reached 
a plaza nearly one hundred miles from the 
railroad station. I had driven two days in 
order to be present and investigate for my- 
self the tales told by Lummis in his "Land 
of Poco Tiempo." As we sat at supper in 
the home of our host, the children came run- 
ning in, saying: 

"The Penitentes are coming." 

We at once rushed to the door to see the 
procession, and if possible to secure an 
entrance to the meeting of tinieblas (dark- 
ness) in that little chapel. We joined the 
procession, but just as we reached the door 



38 OUR MEXICANS 

three large officers stepped in front and, 
beckoning with their hands, ordered us away. 
My guide pleaded hard, and after some dis- 
cussion the men retired and talked the matter 
over with some of their friends. Then they 
returned, and I was admitted to the room, 
where for a couple of hours at least, with 
closed doors, sights were seen and noises 
heard that no tongue could describe. 

The building is of adobe, with large slid- 
ing-doors in one end, and with but one small, 
round hole in one side for light and ventila- 
tion. The floor is native earth, except at 
the end where the altar is located. In front 
of the altar is a large, curtained table, under 
which the choir have their seats on the floor. 
In front of this table, on a small stool, sit 
two men, each holding a stone in his hand. 
Directly in front of the stool, but on the 
earthen floor, at some distance from the 
front of the altar platform, is a stand on 
which is a wooden triangle, having one 
lighted candle on the apex, three on the base, 
and five on either side. In front of this the 
Penitentes stand facing the lights. These 
men for days have been torturing themselves 
in the ways previously described. Now 
their heads and backs and arms are band- 
aged. These men we would suppose to be 
the most religious in the community; instead, 



THE PENITENTES 39 

they are regarded as the most deluded and 
of the lower class, doing penance not only 
for the sins they have committed, but for 
those which they intend to commit during 
the coming year. 

All things being ready, at the blast of a 
trumpet the meeting is in progress. The 
choristers under the table sing and play one 
verse. The men in front of the table strike 
three times on the seats with the stones they 
hold in their hands, then one of the Peni- 
tentes steps forward and extinguishes one 
of the lights. This continues until all the 
lights but one have disappeared. There is 
silence for a moment. Then a large, flat 
surface, probably nine by twelve feet, ap- 
parently of wood, covered with zinc, which 
in its turn is covered with leather, is placed 
on the floor. The doors in the front of the 
buildings are closed and barred. The her- 
manas range themselves about the room. 
The music is again started, and at a given 
signal the last light is gone. From boxes 
and barrels, previously ranged round the 
room, ropes and chains and sticks are drawn, 
and for about one half-hour the clashing of 
chains and the ranting of other instruments 
is maddening. 

The noise, the groans, and the darkness 
I can never forget. If at any time I want 



40 OUR MEXICANS 

an illustration of that "outer darkness" I 
only think of that awful night in the P en- 
tentes' meeting-house. 

What does it all mean? Not "the arrival 
of the soul in purgatory/' as someone has 
said. As the candles are again lighted, I 
see one of the Penitentes go forward and 
take from the wall a cross on which is an 
image intended to represent our Saviour, 
who has died during the darkness, and at 
once the whole mystery is clear. The dark- 
ness, with all the unearthly sounds, is in- 
tended to represent the transactions at Cal- 
vary on that Good Friday night when the 
"King of Glory" bowed His head and gave 
up the ghost. 

After this service the image on the cross 
is borne from the little chapel to the house 
of a friend where entertainment has been 
provided, and there the music is kept up 
until the morning, when all return to the 
morada, from which they go to their homes 
in peace. 

Under the flag that waves for liberty, and 
with the Gospel in our hands that proclaims 
freedom for the slave of sin, we long for 
the day when from those lofty mountains, 
deep canons, and wide-stretching plains 
the weird song of the poor Penitentes shall 
no longer be heard, but only songs of praise 



THE PENITENTES 41 

to Him who has cleansed us from our sins 
in His own precious blood. 

[For further information regarding this strange 
form of worship the reader is referred to "The Land 
of Poco Tiempo," by Charles F. Lummis, and to 
"The Passionists of the Southwest," by the Rev. 
A. M. Darley.] 



CHAPTER V 

SISTER CHURCHES AT WORK 

" Our aims are one" 
The Baptists 

The first Protestant church to enter New 
Mexico was the Baptist, whose first minis- 
ter came in 1849. It was in 1852, however, 
that the Rev. Samuel Gorman arrived as 
first missionary to the Pueblo Indians, and 
in 1854 the Baptists erected in Santa Fe the 
first Protestant church building in New 
Mexico. 

The work of these first missionaries seems 
to have been confined almost entirely to the 
American people. When the Civil War broke 
out their mission board withdrew its sup- 
port and the work was abandoned. Only 
within the last few years has anything been 
done by the Baptists among the Spanish- 
speaking people of New Mexico. 

In 1903 the reports showed five organized 
churches with a total membership of ninety- 
two. A good school for Mexican children 



SISTER CHURCHES 43 

has been in successful operation at Velarde 
with an attendance of ninety, and another 
has lately been opened at Alculoe with an 
attendance of about sixty. 

The Congregationalists 

The early work of the Congregational 
Church in New Mexico was of a mixed char- 
acter, consisting chiefly of academies at 
Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque. 
These were intended largely for Mexican 
children, but the Americans rather crowded 
them out. These schools did an important 
work for some years, but later were aban- 
doned. The beginning of their school work 
distinctively for Mexican children dates back 
to about 1888. In 1903 there were six 
schools with twelve teachers and an enrol- 
ment of three hundred and ninety. The 
schools are located at Barelas, Ranchos de 
Atrisco, Cubero, San Mateo, San Rafael, and 
Seboyeta. 

Little has been done by the Congregation- 
alists in the way of distinct evangelistic work 
among the Mexicans. There are two native 
evangelists and two native churches with a 
membership of thirty-seven. The only or- 
dained Congregational minister engaged in 
Mexican work in New Mexico occupies the 



44 OUR MEXICANS 

position of general missionary and superin- 
tendent of schools. 

The Rev. J. H. Heald emphasizes the 
fact that their work has not developed be- 
cause of the lack of a central school, but 
hopes soon to remedy this lack by the estab- 
lishment of an industrial school. 

The Methodists 

In 1850 the Rev. E. G. Nicholson, the 
first Methodist missionary to New Mexico, 
was sent out by the Missionary Society of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He reached 
Santa Fe in October, 1850. His work was 
among the English-speaking people, mostly 
officers and soldiers of the United States 
army and a few of the families of officials 
in the civil service. When the army was re- 
called from Santa Fe the congregation be- 
came very small, and Mr. Nicholson returned 
to Missouri and reported unfavorably. The 
mission was suspended for about a year. 

When at Santa Fe Mr. Nicholson had 
made the acquaintance of a Roman Catholic 
priest who was not in sympathy with the 
Romish Church. After visiting Rome he 
returned to London, where he met a highly 
educated Wesleyan minister, by whom he 
was convinced that the Church of Rome was 



SISTER CHURCHES 45 

no longer the Church for him, and at once 
sought a place in the Methodist Church. 
With the approval of the bishops, early in 
the autumn of 1853 Mr. Nicholson, as super- 
intendent, with the Rev. Mr. Hanson and 
the priest, Reniguo Cardinas, were sent as 
missionaries to New Mexico. On their ar- 
rival in Santa Fe they held service in Span- 
ish, and soon a number were baptized. 
Cardinas became a zealous itinerant in the 
Spanish work, chiefly in the valley of the 
Rio Grande. 

Mr. Hanson opened a school in Zecalote. 
At first the school was very hopeful with 
thirty-five pupils, but soon it was reported 
to the Church authorities. A few priests 
were sent to Zecalote, and soon the children 
were removed and the school was closed. 

Mr. Nicholson visited Albuquerque, Peral- 
ta, Belen, Corales, and Iocisro. While at 
Peralta he left a copy of the Bible with 
Don Ambrosio Gonzales, which led to his 
conversion. 

The missionaries soon became discouraged 
and returned to New York and gave reports 
not at all encouraging. Cardinas, however, 
remained on the field and pleaded constantly 
for a superintendent. In 1855 the Rev. D. 
D. Love was sent out to examine and report 
the existing conditions. He found a few 



46 OUR MEXICANS 

converts, organized a church at Iocisro, and 
administered the Lord's Supper to seven 
members. In November 18th of the same 
year Dr. Love visited Peralta, held services, 
organized a class of fourteen persons, and 
appointed as leader Ambrosio Gonzales. 
After some time Dr. Love returned to New 
York and the work was discontinued. 

Not much was done in this mission for 
the next ten years. In 1866 Father Dyer 
took a horseback ride down into New Mex- 
ico. His soul was stirred when he saw the 
condition of the people. He wrote a few 
stirring articles to the church papers. In- 
terest was roused, and at the General Con- 
ference in Chicago in 1868 New Mexico 
was taken up, made a district in the Colorado 
Conference, and Father Dyer appointed pre- 
siding elder of the same. 

On the earnest solicitation of the Church 
authorities the Rev. Thomas H. Harwood, 
the present Methodist superintendent of 
Spanish work in New Mexico, and Mrs. 
Harwood, reached the territory in 1869- 
They at once opened a school at Cherry 
Valley, and afterward at Tuptonville. He 
visited Peralta in 1871 and reorganized the 
work begun by Gonzales. The little band 
of fourteen had increased to forty-two. 

Dr. Harwood found no Protestant churches 



SISTER CHURCHES 47 

or classes anywhere except at Santa Fe, 
where the Presbyterians had opened a work 
and where the Methodists had a small or- 
ganization, as also at Elizabethtown. 

In addition to their English branch, which 
has sixteen organized churches, the Spanish 
branch of the Methodist work reported in 
1903 thirty-five church buildings, eleven hun- 
dred and twenty Sunday-school children, and 
a church membership of twenty-six hundred 
and eighty-two. 

Dr. Harwood says : "Thirty years ago I 
rode on horseback in the mountains between 
Ocate and Black Lakes about thirty miles; 
I found only one house, where I spent the 
night and preached to all its inmates. Last 
week I travelled over the same road. I 
passed many houses, and preached at night 
to about sixty people, one-half of whom are 
members of the Church. What hath God 
wrought! To Him be the praise." 



CHAPTER VI 

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN NEW MEXICO 

"I will make darkness light before them" — Isa. 
xlii: 16. 

The work of the Presbyterian Church 
among the Mexican or Spanish-speaking 
people is so closely associated in its com- 
mencement with our missions to the Amer- 
icans and Indians that it is difficult to disso- 
ciate them. 

It was in 1850 that the Rev. W. J. Kephart 
was sent as the first Presbyterian missionary 
to New Mexico. There are no records of 
his work to be found. He subsequently be- 
came editor of the Santa Fe Gazette in anti- 
slavery interests. 

Under appointment of the Board of Do- 
mestic Missions, the Rev. D. F. McFarland, 
supported by the Ladies' New Mexico and 
Arizona Missionary Society of New York 
City, reached Santa Fe on Thursday, No- 
vember 22d, 1866. On the following Sunday, 
in the senate chamber, which, through the 
kindness of Governor Mitchell, was granted 
48 



PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS 49 

for the service, he preached to an attentive 
and respectably large audience. In the 
afternoon of the same day a Sunday-school 
was organized with three teachers and seven 
pupils, which, so far as records show, was 
the first Protestant Sunday-school organized 
in New Mexico. On the following Sunday 
services were continued, with increased at- 
tendance, and at once the Sunday-School 
Visitor and the Shorter Catechism were in- 
troduced into the Sunday-school. 

Although, as elsewhere stated, Baptist and 
Methodist missionaries had been at work in 
New Mexico for a number of years, yet 
when Mr. McFarland arrived he found that 
in 1855 or 1856 the Methodists had prac- 
tically given up the work, and although the 
Baptists had expended over twenty thousand 
dollars in Santa Fe they had not secured a 
foothold. The rebellion had broken out, the 
board had withdrawn its support, and their 
church building was fast becoming a ruin, 
the roof having fallen in before their last 
missionary had left the city. 

On January 13th, 1867, the First Presby- 
terian Church was organized in Santa Fe 
with twelve members. On the day appointed 
for the organization the doorkeeper of the 
senate chamber was absent with the |key, 
and could nowhere be found. Being, with 



50 OUR MEXICANS 

many others, opposed to the organization, 
although he alleged that he forgot that there 
was a meeting, it was generally believed 
that he remembered to forget. In the emer- 
gency, Mrs. Mitchell, wife of the governor, 
who had been importunate in her solicita- 
tions and indefatigable in her efforts for the 
settlement of a minister and the organization 
of a church, kindly and willingly offered the 
use of one of her spacious parlors, and there 
the little band met and were organized into 
the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe. 
Governor Mitchell, Chief -Justice J. P. 
Hough, Colonel James L. Collins, M. L. 
Byers, and S. B. Elkens were elected trus- 
tees. Mr. W. W. Carothers was elected 
ruling elder. Two months later, when on a 
trip East, hoping to interest many in this 
new church work, he was taken ill and died 
on the plains of Kansas. 

In the foreign mission records of January, 
1868, it is stated that the attention of the 
Board of Foreign Missions had just then 
been called to the condition of the Navajo 
Indians through letters written by General 
Alexander and the Rev. D. F. McFarland, 
and that the Rev. James M. Roberts and 
wife had been appointed to this service. 

The removal of the Navajos to their pres- 
ent reservation in the northwest of New 



PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS 51 

Mexico and the northeast of Arizona led to 
delay, and it was not until November, 1868, 
that Mr. and Mrs. Roberts reached Santa 
Fe under appointment as missionaries to the 
Navajos. 

On June 2d, 1868, the General Assembly 
of the Presbyterian Church in the United 
States of America had authorized the Rev. 
John N. Schultz, chaplain Thirty-eighth 
Regiment United States Infantry, then sta- 
tioned at Fort Craig, New Mexico, the Rev. 
D. F. McFarland, and the Rev. James M. 
Roberts, and such churches as were to be 
found in New Mexico, to form a new pres- 
bytery, to be called the Presbytery of Santa 
Fe. Accordingly, on the arrival of Mr. 
Roberts, a meeting was held in Santa Fe on 
December 14th, 1868. The Rev. D. F. Mc- 
Farland preached the opening sermon from 
Joshua xviiitS: "How long are ye slack 
to go to possess the land which the Lord 
God of your fathers hath given you." The 
Rev. John N. Schultz was chosen moderator, 
the Rev. James M. Roberts temporary clerk, 
and the Rev. D. F. McFarland stated clerk. 
These, with William Kennedy, elder of Santa 
Fe church, constituted the Presbytery of 
Santa Fe, which was attached to the Synod 
of Kansas. Before adjournment each min- 
ister of that presbytery was appointed a 



52 OUR MEXICANS 

missionary committee to visit important 
places in the vicinity of his field of labor. 

At the time of this organization, supersti- 
tion, licentiousness, intemperance, profanity, 
Sabbath desecration, and intense worldliness 
prevailed to a fearful extent. The language, 
customs, amusements, legislation, morality, 
and religion were Spanish and Roman Cath- 
olic, and the wild Indians roamed over the 
hunting-grounds, making occasional raids 
upon settlements for cunning theft and sav- 
age murder. The papal religion was domi- 
nant in New Mexico, and its popular bishop 
resided in Santa Fe. There also were located 
its colleges and seminaries. The only Prot- 
estants besides this little band of Presby- 
terians and the Presbyterian missionaries in 
New Mexico were Chaplain Woart, Episco- 
palian, at Fort Union; an Episcopal church 
at Santa Fe which had been organized by 
him and to which he ministered once a month ; 
the Rev. Mr. Cox and Professor McCumbers, 
who had commenced preaching and teaching 
in Messilla; and some Mexican Protestants 
scattered along the Rio Grande, the remnants 
of the former Methodist and Baptist mis- 
sions. When all this is remembered, well 
may it now be said, "God has made this 
handful of corn, which was scattered among 
the Rocky Mountains, wave like Lebanon." 



PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS 53 

After this meeting of presbytery Mr. 
Roberts went to the Navajos and labored 
there until 1872, when he returned to Taos, 
purposing to engage in mission work there 
among the Pueblos, but instead, as hereafter 
seen, began to study the Spanish language, 
with the view of undertaking mission work 
among the Mexicans. 

In November, 1870, the Rev. John Menaul 
arrived in New Mexico under appointment 
as missionary to one of the Indian tribes in 
New Mexico or Arizona. The intention was 
that he should go to Zuni, but at the request 
of the Navajo agent he was, with the con- 
sent of the Board, induced to remain among 
the Navajos. 



CHAPTER VII 

PROGRESS OP PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW 
MEXICO 

" The entrance of Thy words glveth light" — Ps. 
cxix: 30. 

The commencement and progress of our 
missions among our Mexican people is full 
of interest to those now engaged in the work, 
as well as to the many Christian men and 
women who for years have prayed and given 
for its success. Just as the conquerors painted 
in colors all too glowing the pictures of their 
conquests, so the early missionaries who ac- 
companied them no doubt greatly exagger- 
ated the story of their church achievements. 
On the other hand, the old chapels here and 
there, although now crumbling into decay, 
yet bear witness to early success. 

We must not forget that some of the 
Spanish Bibles which had been brought to 
New Mexico by the early missionaries re- 
mained on the field and did their enlighten- 
ing and converting work even after the ex- 
peditions had been expelled and the mission- 
54 



PRESBYTERIAN PROGRESS 55 

aries massacred. The ten years from 1868 
to 1878, in themselves seemingly of little 
importance, have proved of great and lasting 
benefit to many in the Southwest. 

The first mention of mission work among 
the Mexican people is in a resolution passed 
by the presbytery, "To apply to the Board 
of Education for aid for one year, com- 
mencing November 1, 1868, to the amount 
of $500, in order that the rates of tuition 
may be reduced so that the children of Mex- 
ican parents may receive the benefit of the 
school which many of them are now deprived 
of on account of present rates/ ' 

About the time that this resolution was 
passed a Spanish Bible was found on the 
road some distance from Las Vegas. The 
finder, knowing nothing of the value of the 
book, shortly afterward met Senor Albino 
Madrid and exchanged with him this Bible 
for a Spanish spelling-book. Mr. Madrid, 
being fond of reading, at once began to 
study this new book, and gained from it 
some knowledge of the Way of Life. Anx- 
ious that others should know the Saviour he 
had found, he began in his simple way to 
tell to his fellow-men: 

"Whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus 
Christ shall be saved." 

About the same time a young Christian, 



56 OUR MEXICANS 

now the Rev. Gabino Rendon, of Santa Fe, 
who had only lately been converted, was sent 
by his father on an errand down the Gallinas 
River. In his journey he had to pass the 
village where the Madrids lived. Young 
Rendon took with him a bundle of tracts for 
distribution, but, failing in courage, he 
dropped them along the road as he passed 
the houses. Picked up by the people, some 
of them fell into the hands of the Madrids. 

Soon after this Albino Madrid came to 
Las Vegas, and there met some men who 
knew the Gospel story, and, as they knew 
the same language, "they spake often one 
to another/ ' Tracts were compared with the 
Bible, and often, when they were found to 
correspond, Mr. Madrid would say: 

"I told you so. I told you the Bible tells 
the truth." 

These men invited Mr. Madrid to attend 
service, which he did, and there his belief 
in the Gospel was confirmed. Shortly after 
he met his brother and nephew, now the 
Rev. Manuel Madrid, of Mora, and told them 
the "old, old story" for the first time. After 
an introduction to the brethren, an interest- 
ing conversation, the reception of tracts and 
a copy of the Shorter Catechism, the Ma- 
drids returned home, and there these new 
things were fully discussed. Such was the 



PRESBYTERIAN PROGRESS 57 

commencement of our work along the Gal- 
linas River. 

About the same time, away across the 
mountains in the northern part of New Mex- 
ico and in southern Colorado, two hundred 
miles from the home of the Madrids, another 
light was beginning to shine among the 
Mexican people. There lived Juan de Jesus 
Gomez, grandfather of the Rev. M. D. J. 
Sanchez, the present Prebyterian missionary 
in the San Luis Valley. Mr. Gomez loved 
to read, and, being an intelligent man, was 
a great favorite with the priest, who on dif- 
ferent occasions allowed him to look within 
the covers of the Bible. This only increased 
his desire for the Bread of Life, and he 
longed to have a Bible of his own. This 
desire was soon granted. He found a 
Frenchman, an infidel, who had a Bible, 
which Mr. Gomez at once offered to buy. 
The Frenchman agreed to sell it for a fat 
ox, the use of a team of oxen to Santa Fe 
and return — a distance of about three hun- 
dred miles — and $10 in cash. The total 
price asked is estimated at over $75. The 
price was paid. Mr. Gomez gathered his 
sons around him in the evenings and read to 
them "wonderful words of Life. ,, Soon 
after he began to study the Bible he saw 
that he was not in the right road, and for 



58 OUR MEXICANS 

several years he discussed religious subjects 
with the priest, and showed that he was not 
in accord with the Church of Rome. 

Leaving this Bible to do its leavening 
work, we return to New Mexico. Taos has 
its place in the civil history of the territory. 
It is also closely connected with this early 
Protestant movement, both in New Mexico 
and Colorado. It was here that Padre Mar- 
tinez, born in New Mexico and educated in 
the city of Mexico, first saw the errors of 
the Romish communion. He was a man of 
strong personality, whose name is to-day 
honored by many. He renounced many of 
their errors, although he never openly identi- 
fied himself with the Protestants. He built his 
own chapel, and gathered together a large 
following, many of whom belonged to the 
more influential and intelligent classes. 
Martinez preached the Gospel himself and 
opened his church to a Protestant Episcopal 
clergyman, and stood committed to identify 
himself with that communion. This act was 
not consummated because the Episcopalian 
minister failed to fulfil the necessary condi- 
tions. Martinez believed in education and 
maintained a school for boys, he himself 
teaching the advanced classes. Among those 
he taught was his own son, Vicente, who had 
learned from his father to believe the Bible 



PRESBYTERIAN PROGRESS 59 

to be the Word of God. Martinez told his 
son that he did not preach against saint wor- 
ship because he was afraid that the people 
would assassinate him if he should do so. 
Martinez died in 1867, and after his death 
his followers scattered. Some continued to 
live separate from the Roman Catholic com- 
munion, some returned to Romanism, and a 
few afterward became the first Protestants 
of Taos. Among these were Vicente F. 
Romero, Jose Domingo Mondragon, and 
Felix Cordova, who later became faithful 
evangelists under our Home Board. 

An incident in the life of Vicente F. Ro- 
mero at this time illustrates God's care over 
His own Word and confirms the Psalmist's 
words, of which one is so frequently re- 
minded in the plazas of New Mexico: "As 
the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so 
the Lord is round about His people from 
henceforth, even forever." One day Vicente 
Romero was at work on his ranch when a 
band of Navajo Indians assaulted him and 
took away all his property. They attempted 
also to take his Bible. For this he pleaded 
and told them that it was the Word of God. 
As he was expecting every moment to be put 
to death, he prayed that a missionary might 
be sent to his people. The Indians left the 
Bible with him, and soon God sent the mis- 
sionary. 



CHAPTER VIII 

EARLY MISSIONARIES 

" We preach Christ crvmfied." — I Cor. i: 23. 

While the seed scattered here and there 
was taking root and springing up the Rev. 
John A. Annin reached Las Vegas on Oc- 
tober 24th, 1869, to commence a work there 
which has entitled him to the name, "Father 
of our Mexican work." 

When Mr. Annin reached Las Vegas he 
went to the Exchange Hotel and at once 
inquired for professing Christians. He was 
told at once that they knew of only one in 
Las Vegas, either among Americans or Mex- 
icans, viz., Mr. Jose Yfies Perea, who, hav- 
ing heard of this inquiry, went at once to see 
Mr. Annin. As they clasped hands, Mr. 
Perea said: "I have been praying for a mis- 
sionary, and I have made vows and promises 
to the Lord in connection with this work. 
You can depend on me for any and every- 
thing that I can do to assist this mission 
work." From that day Mr. Annin and Mr. 
Perea became fast friends. The first thing 
60 








Rev. John A. Annin 



EARLY MISSIONARIES 61 

Mr, Annin did was to open a school, which 
became a centre of light for not a few who 
have since taken a deep interest in the in- 
tellectual and spiritual needs of their fellow- 
countrymen, and whose names will appear 
again and again in connection with this story. 

Mr. Annin prosecuted his work in the 
midst of great difficulties. His want of the 
Spanish language and his sufferings in trav- 
el, arising from long journeys and want of 
accommodation, all added to the difficulties 
with which he had to contend. Nothing, 
however, seemed to discourage him with the 
prospect of being instrumental in winning 
souls for the Master. He continued his work 
without interruption until he saw churches 
organized composed of men and women who 
had renounced the errors of Romanism and 
confessed Jesus Christ as their Saviour and 
only Head of the Church. 

On April 15th, 1870, the second meeting of 
the Presbytery of Santa Fe was held, and 
the Rev. J. A. Annin, of the Presbytery of 
Southern Minnesota, was received as a mem- 
ber, thus forming a quorum and enabling 
the presbytery to proceed to business. Mr. 
Annin reported that in March, 1870, he had 
organized a church in Las Vegas with twelve 
members, principally Mexicans. Mr. Jose 
Ynes Perea was ordained and installed as 



62 OUR MEXICANS 

elder of this new congregation. This report 
was approved and strong resolutions passed 
asking for funds for the erection of a church 
and school at that place. At the same meet- 
ing of presbytery very strong appeals were 
made for missionaries and mission schools in 
important centres in the Territory. 

The third meeting of the presbytery was 
held in Las Vegas on March 8th, 1871, when 
the Rev. John Menaul, of Corsica, Africa, 
was received as a member and his name en- 
rolled. He and the Rev. James M. Roberts 
are reported as laboring among the Navajos 
under the Board of Foreign Missions at Fort 
Defiance with encouraging results. Up to 
this date the Rev. J. A. Annin is the only 
ordained missionary among the Mexicans, 
and he reports a great want of interest 
among the members of his church, but the 
school well sustained and encouraging pros- 
pects for future success. 

Such was the condition of things when, in 
October, 1872, there arrived in Taos the 
Rev. James M. Roberts, on his way to com- 
mence work among the Indians at the Taos 
pueblo. The people were much surprised to 
see this man, with his long, black beard, and 
afraid when they knew that he was a Protes- 
tant. Mr. Roberts intended going to the 
pueblo as a government teacher, but, on 



EARLY MISSIONARIES 63 

account of the opposition of the priests, who 
told the Indians that if they gave their con- 
sent he would close their chapel and make 
Protestants of them all, the Indians refused 
the request. 

As the winter was severe Mr. Roberts re- 
mained in Taos. Realizing the fact that a 
school was the best, if not the only, means 
of gaining an entrance to the people around 
him, he opened a school for the Mexican 
people. Mr. Vicente Romero, to whom ref- 
erence has already been made, with others 
attended this school. They were all sur- 
prised at Mr. Roberts' great wisdom; all, 
however, hated his religion except Mr. Ro- 
mero, who told his companions that if he 
had wisdom he believed that his religion was 
also good because he believed the Bible. 
Here again we meet the Bible. The seed 
sown years before by the good old priest, 
Romero's father, was bearing fruit in the 
heart of his son. 

The third meeting of the presbytery was 
held in Santa Fe on January 16th, 1873, in 
the telegraph office. The Rev. J. M. Rob- 
erts and the Rev. D. F. McFarland were 
present in person, and the Rev. J. A. Annin 
was present "by telegraph." The meeting 
was of great importance, and dealt only with 
matters that needed immediate attention. 



64 OUR MEXICANS 

The meeting was afterward declared illegal, 
but it shows the great straits to which these 
devoted pioneers were pressed. 

In April, 1873, Mr. Roberts began preach- 
ing the Gospel in Taos. A Sunday-school 
was organized and services were conducted 
for the whole year. On November 15th, 1874, 
the Spanish Presbyterian Church of Taos 
was organized with ten members, including 
Mrs. Roberts. The first elders were Mr. 
Jose Domingo Mondragon, for many years 
an evangelist in southern Colorado and 
northern New Mexico, and who, faithful to 
the end, passed to his reward June 3d, 1903, 
and Mr. Vincente F. Romero, an evangelist 
on the Taos field, from whose lips multitudes 
have heard the message of salvation. 

During this opening work in Taos there 
came to the valley from Colorado Mr. Pablo 
Ortega, who heard Mr. Roberts preach. On 
his return home he carried back with him 
some tidings of this new story, and when Mr. 
Roberts and Mr. Romero, in 1876, visited the 
San Luis Valley, they found a goodly num- 
ber gathered together ready to hear the Gos- 
pel of our blessed Lord. Mr. Gomez lived 
at Alamosa, some twenty-five miles distant, 
and was not visited at this time by the mis- 
sionary. In 1878 these missionaries again 
visited this valley, where they found another 



EARLY MISSIONARIES 65 

little band ready to welcome the preaching of 
the word. To this valley the Rev. Alexander 
Darley had come about the same time, and 
in May, 1879^ in the house of Mr. Gomez, 
at Alamosa, was organized "La Segunda 
Eclesia Presbyteriana La Jara," with some 
eight or nine members. This church is now 
called La Luz. 

In 1874 the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, Super- 
intendent of Missions for the Rocky Moun- 
tain Territories, visited New Mexico by stage 
from Denver, and made a missionary tour 
through the entire length of the Territory 
from north to south, going as far west as 
Silver City. On November 17th of the same 
year the fourth meeting of the presbytery 
was held. This meeting is important, for it 
was the first meeting of presbytery in which 
a Mexican was present to represent a church, 
Mr. Jose Ynes Perea being there from the 
church at Las Vegas. Mr. Roberts reported 
the organization of the church in Taos on 
November 15th, with ten members, and Mr. 
Vicente Romero was introduced to presby- 
tery as a representative of that church. At 
this meeting a motion was adopted asking 
the Board of Publication to have the Con- 
fession of Faith translated into the Spanish 
language for the use of the Spanish-speak- 
ing people. 



66 OUR MEXICANS 

In December, 1875, the Rev. George Smith 
was received as a member of presbytery 
and appointed to labor at Santa Fe as pas- 
tor of the American church. Mr. Smith was 
closely identified with the work among the 
Mexican people for a number of years and 
did a great deal to advance its interests. 

On November 1st, 1876, a Spanish church 
was reported as organized at Ocate, with 
twenty-five members, and at the same meet- 
ing of presbytery Mr. Perea was asked to 
enter on evangelistic work. 

At presbytery meeting, 1877, Messrs. 
Mondragon, Romero, Gallegos, and Perea 
were licensed as evangelists, and in August, 
1878, the Rev. J. M. Shields was ordained 
and appointed missionary at Jemez. In 
August, 1879, presbytery met at Las Vegas 
and was opened by a sermon in Spanish by 
evangelist Mondragon. Dr. Shields reported 
organization of church at Jemez on Septem- 
ber 8th, 1878, and Romaldo Montoya was in- 
troduced as elder. 

When presbytery met at Jemez in 1880 
the Rev. Mr. Annin received his letter of 
dismission from the presbytery, and the Rev. 
J. C. Eastman was received as his successor. 
At this meeting Mr. Felix Maes was elected 
lay delegate to the Assembly, and Mr. Jose 
Ynes Perea was ordained to the Gospel 




Rev. James A. Menaul 



EARLY MISSIONARIES 67 

ministry. Arrangements were made for 
transfer of Arizona to the Presbyter j of 
Santa Fe. 

In 1881 presbytery met in Las Vegas, 
when the Rev. James A. Menaul, afterward 
for six years synodical missionary for the 
Synod of New Mexico, was received as a 
member of the presbytery. 

A church was organized at Agua Negra, 
and Messrs. John Whitlock and Jose Cruz 
were ordained elders. 

In 1881 the Rev. Jose Ynes Perea was sent 
as delegate to the General Assembly. Dur- 
ing the same year the Rev. M. Phillips had 
been appointed missionary to Mora, and in 
1882 was received from the Presbytery of 
Cincinnati. The Rev. M. Matthieson was 
also received and appointed to work at Socor- 
ro, with instructions to visit Mesilla and 
other places and select for himself a loca- 
tion for work. Soon a church was organized 
at Socorro. During the next few years 
Spanish churches were organized at Paja- 
rito, Las Vegas, Las Cruces, Capulin, Em- 
budo, Albuquerque, Buena Vista, Mora, 
Placitas, Jarules, Nacimiento, La Luz, Las 
Valles, Trementina, Lumberton, Las Tusas, 
Santa Fe (Spanish), El Quemado, Rincones, 
Raton, Chimayo, and Las Truches. 

Not very much has been done among the 



68 OUR MEXICANS 

Mexican population in Arizona. Work was 
begun in Tucson and Florence, but was soon 
given up. In 1901 an evangelist was sent 
to Metcalf, where a good church has been 
organized with a membership of thirty-five. 

The limits of this sketch forbid even the 
mention of all our missionaries who at dif- 
ferent times have taken part in carrying on 
this work among the Mexican people. Of 
those named, the Rev. Messrs. S. W. Curtis, 
J. J. Gilchrist, J. McGaughey, and E. M. 
Fenton deserve special remembrance among 
the early workers, all of whom have rendered 
service as good soldiers of Jesus Christ and 
have seen the work prosper in their hands. 

To the true missionary in this needy field 
the promise has again and again been ful- 
filled: "He that goeth forth and reapeth, 
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come 
again with rejoicing, bearing his sheaves 
with him/' 



CHAPTER IX 



OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 



" Assemble the . . . little ones . . . that they 
may hear and . . . learn and fear the Lord your 
God"— Deut. xiii:12. 

To tell the story of the work carried on 
in connection with our mission schools in 
New Mexico is to write of a school system 
with marvellous results, many of them un- 
known even to those in closest contact with 
it. This work is under the direct manage- 
ment of the Woman's Board of Home Mis- 
sions. All the property secured is owned by 
the Presbyterian Church. The buildings are 
used for chapels and homes for missionaries 
and teachers as well as for school purposes. 
The Board has erected sixty-six buildings 
valued at nearly $100,000. There are twen- 
ty-nine mission schools, of which twenty- 
four are in New Mexico, four in Colorado, 
and one in California. There are fifty-two 
teachers with nearly two thousand pupils. 

These teachers have been compelled in the 
prosecution of their work to invade a for- 
eign-speaking community and to overcome 
69 



70 OUR MEXICANS 

time-honored prejudices. They have had to 
win the confidence of the people by self- 
sacrificing generosity and devotion and by 
kindly ministrations to physical needs in 
times of trouble and distress. They have 
held themselves ready at a moment's call to 
go as nurse, physician, minister, sister, and 
friend. One teacher, when the smallpox 
threatened the plaza, in order to keep the 
disease from spreading, shut herself up in 
a little room with the only patient and nursed 
him through it all. She thus prevented a 
general outbreak, which would have meant 
death to scores of people. All this is done 
even yet in defiance of the authority of wrath- 
ful priests, who in their churches denounce 
our teachers and threaten the people with 
excommunication if they send their children 
to our schools. The loneliness is often dis- 
tressing, for, while it is not the policy of 
the Board to have our teachers live abso- 
lutely alone, yet it is not always possible to 
secure them suitable companionship. When 
these conditions are remembered one won- 
ders at the advancement made and that so 
seldom a word of complaint is heard from 
any in that devoted band of missionaries. 

That all may have an intelligent knowl- 
edge of the work of the Woman's Board 
among the Mexican people, and settle for 



OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 71 

themselves the question often raised as to 
the wisdom of expending in it so much 
money, I wish to invite my readers to a little 
trip among our schools. 

We cross the Raton Pass from Colorado, 
and at the foot of the mountain reach Raton, 
where a school is in successful operation. 
Here Miss Hills taught for a number of 
years and rendered lasting services. She 
was followed by Miss Laughlin, who for 
three years carried on most successfully the 
work her predecessor had begun. Miss Etta 
Moore, after a few months, has been crowded 
to the door, and is calling loudly and plead- 
ing touchingly for help to meet the crying 
needs of over fifty bright-eyed boys and 
girls waiting for admittance. One's first ex- 
perience can never be forgotten. At Raton 
one Sunday afternoon I first addressed a 
Mexican congregation and observed with 
that interesting band the Sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper. As I remembered that only 
a few years before they had all been in the 
darkness of heathenism and of the Peni- 
tentes, and that it was not many years since 
the son of one of those elders had been mur- 
dered because his father had become a Prot- 
estant; as I visited the school and saw the 
results of the work, I could but exclaim, 
"What hath God wrought !" 



72 OUR MEXICANS 

A reference to the work done here must 
serve as an example of what we find in all 
our schools. All the exercises are in Eng- 
lish. A gospel hymn is sung, a Psalm or 
other portion of Scripture read, and some 
time spent in memorizing a Bible story or 
a part of the Shorter Catechism. This is 
followed by a regular course of study in 
common-school branches. 

After a few hours' travel by train we 
reach Watrous, and a drive of thirty miles 
brings us to Hall's Peak, where, in October, 
1878, Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Hall opened 
a mission school. They have grown old in 
the work, but still teach those boys and girls 
and minister in untold ways to the temporal 
and spiritual welfare of the people about 
them. They tell with enthusiasm of their 
early experiences. The people had never 
seen a plough, and they watched with intense 
interest as Mr. Hall put in his first crop. 
They knew nothing of the use of milk, and 
were greatly surprised when they witnessed 
the churning process, and afterward brought 
their milk, asking to have it made into but- 
ter. To-day the little farms are well tilled 
and many of the people are comfortably 
settled. On Sunday the little church is well 
filled with devout worshippers. As their 
labors are reviewed one is impressed with the 



OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 73 

importance of the teacher's life and manner 
of living as much as with his work in the 
school-room. 

As we journey on we pass Buena Vista 
and Mora, where the Woman's Board for- 
merly had flourishing schools, but in the 
days of retrenchment they were closed. One 
prominent merchant of the latter town, in 
pleading for a school, gave the following 
testimony to their worth: "Wherever your 
schools are we find our best people. I trade 
with them constantly. I give them credit 
whenever they wish, and I have never lost a 
cent by any of your people." The Mora 
school was reopened in 1903. 

Nine miles beyond is Agua Negra, one of 
the points that stands out prominently in 
connection with the early work of our schools 
in New Mexico. Here Miss Anna McNair 
and Miss Blackwell have charge, and the 
people have built for them a teachers' home. 

El Rito, ten miles farther, is soon reached, 
and as we approach we see the church, 
school, and teacher's home, like lights on the 
hillside. Here is one of our best schools, 
with Miss S. Louisa Conklin in charge. 
Space does not permit even the mention of 
the faithful ones who have labored here in 
the past, but none have done better work 
than this daughter of Long Island. 



74 OUR MEXICANS 

A sixty-mile drive brings us to the Taos 
Valley, which has played an important part 
in the history of Protestantism in New 
Mexico. The journey is one of great beauty. 
Here we climb the mountain sides, there 
dash along the river's bank. For miles our 
eyes feast on rugged rocks, covered with 
pine forests. The whole journey is pictu- 
resque in the extreme. Oh, how one wishes 
to be an artist as with delight he looks upon 
those broad plains, hemmed with giant mesas 
and split with wild canons ! But another 
has said: "That while we might reproduce 
the features, we could not the expression; 
while the landmarks might be photographed, 
not the wondrous light which is to the bare 
Southwest the soul that glorifies the plain 
face." Through opening after opening are 
seen in the distance the lofty peaks of the 
Rockies where glistens perpetual snow. 

From the summit of the mountain we look 
down on El Rancho de Taos. The old style 
of houses, the old picturesque church in which 
their dead are buried, the old habits and 
customs, the threshing with the goats, the 
drying of corn and beef — indeed, their every 
mode of living, reminds us that we are among 
a people whose habits and customs are not 
our own. Soon the new Presbyterian mission 
house comes in sight, in striking contrast 



OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 75 

with the former one, sixteen feet by twelve. 
There, twenty years ago, thirty pupils were 
taught by Miss Alice Hyson, who still labors 
here. She has been with the people in sorrow 
and in joy. She has been teacher, nurse, 
doctor, sister, missionary, and friend to the 
whole community. She long ago gave her- 
self to them. Now they show that she has 
reached their inner life and struck a finer 
chord of living there. Here is one of our 
best schools, well equipped and splendidly 
managed. 

Four miles distant is Taos, where we find 
the "Pyle Memorial School." The chapel 
answers the double purpose of school-room 
and church. The teacher occupies a couple 
of rooms at one end, where she cooks, eats, 
sleeps, receives and entertains her numerous 
guests. In all these respects this is a typical 
Mexican mission school. The Mexican 
mothers come into these clean, tidy, sweet 
teachers' homes and go away with new views 
of life, and try as they have never done to 
brighten up their own little dwellings and 
make them more like what home should be. 
Here Miss Rebecca Roland taught for a 
number of years and won a place in many 
hearts and homes. 

Four miles on is "Prada of Taos," where 
the Misses Craig are found with their two 



76 OUR MEXICANS 

school-rooms filled with pupils, and where 
for fifteen years Miss Elizabeth Craig has 
lived with and for the people. From this 
school have come some of our brightest and 
best boys and girls. 

Journeying onward, we pass New Colonias 
and Arroyo Seco, where schools have been 
maintained for a short time, and soon we 
reach Arroyo Hondo. Here in 1900 a 
school was opened by Miss Galbraith and 
Miss Stringfield. The people were exceed- 
ingly anxious for a school and joyfully as- 
sisted in erecting a school-house. The pros- 
pects for the future are good. 

Turning eastward, after a day's drive we 
reach Embudo, where for seven years Miss 
Kate Kennedy lived among the people and 
spent her strength endeavoring to raise them 
to true manhood and womanhood. From the 
boys of Embudo have been trained two, now 
in preparation for the Gospel ministry, and 
to whom all look forward with the greatest 
hope as future workers in the vineyard. On 
the resignation of Miss Kennedy, in 1902, 
Miss M. Bertha Leadingham succeeded to 
the work. Building on a good foundation, 
the work went forward with amazing rapid- 
ity and the greatest interest was manifested, 
but in April, 1903, the disappointment was 
great in the plaza when their teacher was 



OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 77 

removed to Santa Fe to fill the place vacated 
by the resignation of Miss M. L. Allison. 
Miss Isa Dwire, who had proved herself at 
Arroyo Hondo, succeeded to the work, and 
is carrying it on with marked success. 

Twenty miles from Embudo, over the 
mountains, in one of the isolated parts of 
New Mexico, we find Pefiasco, where since 
1888 Miss S. Zuver has conducted the mis- 
son school. Here, ten years ago, the teacher 
was attacked by a robber, but by her bravery 
succeeded in driving him away. Since that 
time she has stood at her post, spending part 
of each year at Rio Pueblo, where a number 
of children live without any other school 
privileges. 

A few hours over a mountain road and we 
reach Las Truchas, eleven miles east of 
Chimayo. In these plazas are found two 
of the latest established mission schools, and 
yet two of the best. Already the greatest 
changes are seen. In 1900 the Misses Clark 
opened school with six pupils in a little 
adobe building in the plaza. Soon the room 
was crowded to overflowing. Then the 
"John Hyson Memorial" school was erected, 
and after three years' work the register 
shows an attendance of eighty. So much 
interested did the people at Las Truchas 
become in this work in their neighboring 



78 OUR MEXICANS 

village that one of their older men pleaded 
strongly for his people: 

"Can you not get me a school at Las 
Truchas for my people? We more people 
there, we no read, no write, no care read nor 
write." 

When told that maybe some day they 
would have a school, he replied: 

"Some day — that no good. Me die some 
day. Me an old man, sixty-five years old. 
Me fight for the American Government in 
the Civil War, and all me ask is a school/ ' 

This simple story was told in the First 
Church, Newark, N. J., and at once a splen- 
did company of volunteers guaranteed the 
salary of a teacher, and in October, 1902, 
Miss Rebecca Meeker opened a school in this 
plaza, one of the most needy in the territory. 
Before the work was fairly begun sixty-six 
pupils had been enrolled. In these two 
plazas churches with twenty-two members 
have been organized. 

Trementina is another of the New Mexico 
schools which deserves special mention. Miss 
Alice Blake was comfortably located at 
Chaperito. Finding that nearly all the peo- 
ple were compelled to move down the valley 
early in the spring in order to tend their 
flocks, Miss Blake proposed to follow them 
and teach them during the summer months. 



OUR PLAZA SCHOOLS 79 

This proposition was accepted by the 
Board, and the result has been the erection 
by the people of a school chapel, dedicated 
in November, 1903, and the organization of 
a school of sixty-two pupils. 

Passing south, mention can only be made 
of the schools at Pajarito, Los Lentes, So- 
corro, and Las Cruces, in which two hundred 
and twenty-six pupils have been enrolled. 
To tell the story of the work done in these 
schools year after year would be to repeat 
the story of what has been accomplished at 
the places already mentioned. 

The four schools in Colorado report two 
hundred and thirty-one in attendance, and 
Los Angeles school reports sixty-six. 



CHAPTER X 



OUR BOARDING-SCHOOLS 

" My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" — • 
Hosea iv: 16. 

The Allison School 



The Allison School, at Santa Fe, has well 
been called "Our pride and jewel/' Our 
first mission school for Mexican children was 
opened here by Miss C. A. Gaston, of Knox- 
ville, 111., now the wife of the Rev. John 
Menaul, Albuquerque, in November, 1867, 
and soon forty pupils were enrolled. The 
property which had been owned by the Bap- 
tists was secured and the buildings repaired, 
and the school was soon removed from an up- 
stairs room on the plaza to the church. Soon 
the attention of the bishop was directed to 
the Protestant school, which was vigorously 
denounced and all who attended it were 
threatened with excommunication. After 
this attack the school was at first very small, 
but the attendance gradually increased. 

Miss Gaston, after two years' excellent 
work, left to labor with the Rev. J. M. and 
80 



OUR BOARDING-SCHOOLS 81 

Mrs. Roberts among the Navajo Indians. 
After this the names of Miss Mallory, Mr. 
A. G. Daniels, and Mrs. Perkins appear on 
the records as teachers in Santa Fe, but no 
further record is given. An association of 
ladies of Auburn, N. Y., formed to sustain 
a teacher in Santa Fe, co-operated with the 
Board of Domestic Missions and established 
the Santa Fe mission school. In 1870 this 
association was dissolved and the Ladies' 
Board of Missions was organized and as- 
sumed charge of the school. 

Miss M. L. Allison reached Santa Fe in 
May, 1881, and found the property of 
the Board to consist of a dilapidated adobe 
house unfit for a dwelling. Little by little 
the building was repaired and occupied, until 
the present well-equipped building was 
erected, largely by the ladies of the New 
York Synod. 

In 1884 a boarding department was com- 
menced with twelve girls. At first it was 
difficult to persuade the girls to come into 
the home, but in late years the progress has 
been marked. Twice the capacity has been 
enlarged, and still the school is overflowing. 
Although eighty were in attendance during 
1902, over one hundred were turned away 
for want of accommodation. 

The girls are taught not only common- 



82 OUR MEXICANS 

school branches and fitted to become teach- 
ers in the puplic schools of the Territory, but 
are given an industrial training — the only- 
true system of education for the Mexican 
people. Responsibility is thrown upon them. 
Work which has been looked upon as de- 
grading is raised into a higher position, and 
the pupils are taught something of the dig- 
nity of labor. In addition to their school- 
room studies they are trained in housework 
and given lessons in vocal and instrumental 
music. If desired they are also taught sew- 
ing in general and finer needlework and 
embroidery. In a word, these Mexican girls 
are so taught that they become teachers and 
leaders of their own people. The heart, also, 
is educated as well as the mind and hand. 

Everywhere throughout the Territory this 
school and its work is known, and lately an 
ex-superintendent of education for New 
Mexico, himself a Mexican and a Roman 
Catholic, bore testimony that the Santa Fe 
school for Mexican girls had done more for 
New Mexico than any other institution in 
the Territory. Another superintendent of 
education for New Mexico showed his appre- 
ciation by placing his own daughter in the 
school and paying the full amount asked for 
board and tuition. 

After twenty-two years of devoted service 



OUR BOARDING-SCHOOLS 83 

as superintendent of this school that now 
bears her name, Miss Allison resigned and 
severed her connection with the work in New 
Mexico. The work speaks for itself and will 
stand through coming ages. To her labors 
and efficiency are due the great importance 
of this school and its wide-spread influence 
for good. Hundreds of young women in 
New Mexico owe all the training they have 
to Miss Allison and her devoted helpers. 

On April 1st, 1903, Miss M. Bertha Lead- 
ingham, of Hammond, N. Y., who had spent 
one year in Embudo as a plaza teacher, suc- 
ceeded as superintendent of this school, and 
with a devoted band of helpers continues to 
prosecute the work with an energy and skill 
which promise great things in future for the 
Allison School. 

The Menaul School 

The Ladies' Association that established 
the school at Santa Fe did not exhaust their 
energies there, but next year began to raise 
funds for work in Las Vegas. The Rev. 
John Annin was the pioneer missionary and 
teacher in Las Vegas. He opened a school 
there in 1871. As in Santa Fe, the school 
was conducted at different points until it was 
comfortably located in mission buildings. 



84 OUR MEXICANS 

The work of that school has been greatly 
blessed, and its ex-pupils are found to-day 
in all parts of New Mexico. 

In 1886 this day-school was changed into 
a boarding-school for Mexican girls and 
boys. Its beginnings were small, but rap- 
idly increased from four to eighty-two in 
three years — 1886 to 1889. The boarding- 
school continued for ten years, and in Feb- 
ruary, 1896, was removed to Albuquerque, 
where only boys are admitted. 

The work in Albuquerque had been begun 
in 1881 by the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D.D., 
in a large adobe building situated in a little 
plaza about a mile north of Albuquerque. 
In 1885 the school was moved to its present 
site and was continued as a contract school 
for boys until the Government erected their 
large plant and equipped it so well that the 
Board felt that the need for their work was 
greater elsewhere, and hence closed the 
school for a time. In 1895 the boarding de- 
partment of the Las Vegas school for Mex- 
ican boys was transferred to its present site. 

The name "Menaul School" was given in 
the spring of 1897 in memory of the Rev. 
James A. Menaul, who as synodical mission- 
ary for the Synod of New Mexico for seven 
years did so much to advance the interests 
of the work within the bounds of the synod. 



OUR BOARDING-SCHOOLS 85 

The attendance here has been from seventy 
to eighty annually, and every year over one 
hundred have been turned away for want 
of accommodation. In 1902 over two hun- 
dred were refused. The pleading of parents 
for their boys was in many cases pathetic. 
Every place is promised long before the 
opening in September, and each pupil is ad- 
mitted under agreement to remain until 
school closes in May. Miss Anna McNair 
was the first superintendent. She started 
the work in Albuquerque. Since her resig- 
nation in 1898 Mr. J. C. Ross, with Mrs. 
Ross as matron, and a band of teachers of 
whom the Church may well be proud, has 
carried on the work with marked success. 

The class-room work includes all grades 
from the primary to the eighth, and as the 
pupils advance the grades are being in- 
creased from year to year, so that eventually 
the standard may be brought up to that of 
high-school work. All teaching is in Eng- 
lish, and the results are very satisfactory. 
Some of the ex-pupils are now teachers in 
the public schools and are classed among the 
best. Others have chosen other lines of work 
and are doing well. The Bible is one of the 
text-books, and the boys are taught its pre- 
cepts day by day. The home work is per- 
formed by the boys under the direction of a 



86 OUR MEXICANS 

competent teacher. The older boys attend 
to repairing and look after the farm work. 

It is most desirable that water be secured 
for irrigation purposes, either by ditches or 
pumps, so that a small farm may be culti- 
vated to advantage. At a cost of $2,000 or 
$2,500 an engine and pumps should be se- 
cured and placed in position to enable the 
school so to irrigate twenty or twenty-five 
acres as not only to teach farming, but pro- 
duce a revenue sufficient to meet the current 
expenses of the school. 

At no time in the history of this school 
have the prospects been so bright as at the 
present. For several years it was felt that 
more accommodation was a necessity. In the 
spring of 1902 this matter was brought to 
the attention of the friends in the East. The 
result is a $10,000 building, called "Pier son 
Hall," in memory of the lamented secretary 
of the Woman's Board. It is expected that 
one hundred and fifty bright boys and young 
men will here be educated year after year. 
Already all the available room has been spoken 
for, and again scores will have to be refused. 

Albuquerque Training School 

The story of the educational work in the 
Synod of New Mexico would be incomplete 




Pierson Hall, Albuquerque, N. M. 



OUR BOARDING-SCHOOLS 87 

without reference to the training school for 
Mexican evangelists, helpers, and ministers. 
For a number of years the College of the 
Southwest at Del Norte, Colorado, did much 
to tram young men who were to become the 
native pastors and evangelists. To the late 
Rev. F. M. Gilchrist is due the credit of 
inaugurating this work. On his recommenda- 
tion a class of young men was gathered to- 
gether in connection with Del Norte College. 
This class was placed under the direction of 
Mr. Gilchrist. These six young men com- 
pleted the proposed course in 1893. After 
this a number of men who were able to take 
college studies were collected at Del Norte. 
About the same time a summer school for 
evangelists was held at Las Vegas. After 
careful consideration the Board of Home 
Missions established a training school for 
native ministers in 1902, in connection with 
the Menaul School at Albuquerque, New 
Mexico. 

The Rev. Henry C. Thomson, D.D., was 
appointed to take charge of this department. 
It was started under the most favorable au- 
spices. During the first year ten young men 
were in attendance with the Gospel ministry 
in view. The students not only pursue their 
studies, but preach on Sundays in the out- 
lying districts that can be reached from Al- 



88 OUR MEXICANS 

buquerque. During the summer months six 
of the young men are employed as evange- 
lists, and from all their fields of labor come 
tidings of the good work performed. At the 
close of the school year an evangelistic con- 
ference is held for two weeks, in which not 
only the students but the Mexican mission- 
aries and evangelists in the work take part. 
The Evangelistic Committee of the General 
Assembly has co-operated with the Board of 
Home Missions to accomplish this, and no 
better work can be done. 

Those who have studied the question most 
carefully are convinced that the evangeliza- 
tion of the Mexican people must be largely 
effected by means of a native ministry. Just 
as soon as possible we ought to have in this 
training school a score of young men for our 
own mission work, and as many more to fill 
the calls that come from the regions beyond. 



CHAPTER XI 

PERSONAL PICTURES 

"/ have redeemed thee J 1 — Isa: lxiii. 1. 

An introduction to some of the native min- 
isters will be of interest to all who pray and 
give for the extension of this work. 

Jose Ynes Perea 

The Rev. Jose Ynes Perea, of Pajarito, 
was born in Bernalillo, New Mexico, in 1837. 
He is the son of the late Don Juan Perea, 
who spent two years in New York for medi- 
cal treatment. While there he embraced the 
Protestant religion, but on the entreaties and 
tears of his wife he returned to the Romish 
fold. The family were endued with Amer- 
ican feelings and were advanced for the 
times in which they lived. There being no 
priest nearer than Isleta, it was agreed that 
the baptism of the child should take place in 
that Indian pueblo. The uncle and aunt were 
invited to take part in the ceremony. When 
89 



90 OUR MEXICANS 

the day appointed arrived, a carreta (wagon) 
was provided, and with two ox-teams the 
journey was begun. All went well until the 
river was reached. Before entering a few 
ejaculations were uttered — "Ave Maria," 
"Jesus Maria y Jose." Then thinking them- 
selves secure, they entered the current, but 
soon found themselves, babe and all, indulg- 
ing in a bath in the Rio Grande. All es- 
caped, and after a thorough drying in the 
house of a friendly Indian they appeared 
before the priest. Alas, alas ! with the fright 
of the bath all had forgotten the name the 
mother gave the child. The priest in wrath 
produced an almanac which contained the 
names of the saints for every day in the 
year. Remembering that the child was born 
on April 23d, they found that the saint of 
that day was "Yfies del Monte Pulciano." 
The uncle declared that the parents would 
not like the name "Yfies," that being a wom- 
an's name (Agnes). The priest, however, 
insisted, and the child was called " Yfies." 
This was very distasteful to the mother, as 
she had wished her son to be called "Ig- 
nacio." 

When but a boy "Jose Yfies" was sent to 
New York to attend a French school. The 
Bible was not allowed in the school. One 
day during recess as Jose was passing a 



PERSONAL PICTURES 91 

class-room he noticed a number of boys hid- 
ing something. On promising not to tell, 
they showed him the book, and together they 
continued reading. It was a Bible, and from 
the reading of that book Jose Yiies Perea 
dates his conversion. 

Some time after this a friend, who still 
lives and occupies a prominent place in New 
Mexico, visited the boy in New York. Be- 
fore leaving, he said: 

"Jose, is there anything you would like?" 
To this the boy replied: 
"I wish you would get me a Bible." 
The request was granted, and the book 
thus secured proved to be "the power of God 
unto salvation" to the young seeker after 
truth. 

When Jose returned home he was told: 
"You must be a Catholic while under age." 
This drove the boy from home. He left 
for New Orleans, where he secured work on 
shipboard. He sailed to Rio Janeiro, Mobile, 
Liverpool, Calcutta, and the Sandwich Isl- 
ands, and back to Boston. 

In 1859, while in Boston, there was a 
great revival, in which Jose became deeply 
concerned. A gentleman took a deep inter- 
est in the Mexican boy and wrote to a friend, 
who corresponded with Don Juan Perea, and 
soon the boy was home. Here he remained 



92 OUR MEXICANS 

in charge of his father's large flocks of sheep 
until Mr. Annin came to Las Vegas and 
found him the only Protestant in the place. 

On the organization of the church there 
in 1868 Mr. Jose Ynes Perea was ordained 
the first elder, and was thus the first native 
Mexican to represent a congregation on the 
floor of presbytery. In a few years Mr. 
Perea was licensed to preach the Gospel and 
afterward ordained to the Gospel ministry. 
Mr. Perea has thus the honor of being the 
first fruits of Protestant work in the Pres- 
byterian Church in New Mexico. Since then 
Mr. Perea has labored faithfully among his 
people and done much good in winning them 
to a truer, purer, and higher life. 



Gabino Rendon 

Gabino Rendon was born in Las Vegas, 
New Mexico, in February, 1864. His father 
was a farmer and served in the Union army 
during the Civil War. He never joined any 
Protestant church, but often said, what many 
of his fellow-countrymen believe, that "the 
priests and the wolves were the cause of 
New Mexico's poverty." He studied the 
Bible and argued strongly in favor of Prot- 
estantism. His last sickness seized him 




1 



^\ t 



>. 





! 




Rev. Gabino Rendon 



PERSONAL PICTURES 93 

when accompanying his son on a missionary 
trip. He died in July, 1903. 

Gabino's mother died when her son was 
only fourteen years old, and his early life 
was one of difficulty and trial. He received 
his early education in a mission school con- 
ducted by the Rev. John A. Annin and his 
daughters, Laura and Rebecca, in Las Vegas. 

In 1877 he attended the Jesuits' College 
for one year, but on the death of his mother 
he was under the necessity of assisting in 
providing for his sisters and himself. This 
led the boy into bad company, where he sold 
liquor for others and afterward for himself. 
When the mission school was reopened by 
Miss Annie M. Speakman she persuaded the 
boy to attend. Let Mr. Rendon tell how he 
decided to gain an education: 

"I was visiting a little store in the neigh- 
borhood with some of my schoolmates who 
had been with me both at Mr. Annin's school 
and at the Jesuits' school. A man came in 
and asked the owner of the store to write 
an order for him in English. The young 
man took the pen and began to write, and I, 
without saying a word, went home. A very 
uncomfortable feeling came over me. I be- 
gan to sweat at the thought, 'What if he had 
asked me to write the order?' For, simple 
as it was, I would have been compelled to tell 



94 OUR MEXICANS 

him that I did not know how. Right there 
I formed this resolution: 'Now I have just 
started anew going to school, and even if I 
am jeered at I am going to learn whatever 
may be necessary for me to write in the Eng- 
lish language/ 

"Three years after I was called into the 
same place and asked to write an English 
order, which I did without hesitation, and 
there was joy in my heart. Then I con- 
trasted the two scenes, and I realized that 
I had gained a victory." 

After this the teacher invited young Ren- 
don to a Sunday-school, and he was im- 
pressed with the regard that the Protestants 
had for the Lord's day. Little by little he 
became interested and more regular at Sun- 
day-school and on Sunday services. 

Again let Mr. Rendon speak: 

"I soon quit going to the Catholic Church, 
and even the idea had entered my mind, 'I 
might leave it altogether and join the Protes- 
tant Church/ But, no, that could never be. 
I had been a strong devotee of the Virgin 
Mary. She had been mediator between me 
and God, but I found that Scripture was 
directly opposed to my belief. 'I am the 
way, the truth, and the life; no one cometh 
to the Father but by me/ The question was, 
which was right, my early teaching or the 



PERSONAL PICTURES 95 

teaching of Christ ? Although it took a long 
time to decide, the decision was in favor of 
the Word of God. At the age of twenty- 
years I experienced the new birth. Doubts 
often bothered me until I read 1 Timothy ii. 
5 : 'There is one mediator between God and 
man, the man Christ Jesus/ Then I was 
firmly established in the Protestant faith, 
and in March, 1885, joined the Protestant 
Church." 

In the following year Mr. Rendon was 
elected an elder of the Spanish church at Las 
Vegas. In 1888 he was engaged as a teacher 
in Mora County, and in addition to his school 
duties, other work was prosecuted, and Mr. 
Manuel Barcelon, now one of our devoted 
evangelists, was brought to the knowledge of 
the truth. In 1890 Mr. Rendon was induced 
to attend the special training class at Del 
Norte, where he studied three years. 

As soon as his course was completed Mr. 
Rendon was engaged by the Home Mission 
Committee of the Pueblo Presbytery to labor 
as an evangelist, and through his labors the 
church at San Pablo was organized. Mr. 
Rendon returned to college for a year and 
a half, and then went back to his evangelistic 
work. 

In 1899 he was ordained to the Gospel 
ministry, and at once took charge of Pueblo 



96 OUR MEXICANS 

Fifth Church and surrounding churches. In 
October, 1900, Mr. Rendon accepted an ap- 
pointment to Santa Fe as missionary to the 
Spanish church there. Since that time his 
work has been marked by that zeal and ear- 
nestness which a true missionary needs. He 
has been moderator of the Santa Fe Pres- 
bytery, and is held in the highest esteem by 
all his brethren. 

He has been adopted by the First Presby- 
terian Church of Mt. Vernon, N. Y., as their 
missionary, and has the oversight of the 
churches of Santa Fe (Spanish), Chimayo, 
El Quemado, Las Truches, and Embudo. In 
October, 1903, he was unanimously elected 
moderator of the Synod of New Mexico. 
The first native Mexican to hold that posi- 
tion, he filled the office to the entire satis- 
faction of all the brethren. May he long be 
spared to labor for his fellow-men! 

John Whitlock 

Mr. John Whitlock was converted, like 
many others, through the reading of God's 
Word and trying to find out if the Virgin 
Mary is really an interceder. In 1875 there 
was organized at Mora a debating society, 
of which young Whitlock was a member. 
Here the question was asked: "Is the Virgin 



PERSONAL PICTURES 97 

Mary an interceder between God and man?" 
The priest was chosen to answer the ques- 
tion, but failed to do so to the satisfaction 
of this young man seeking for truth. He 
then began to read the Bible for himself, 
and in company with others left the Roman 
Catholic Church. Soon after this Mr. An- 
nin visited Agua Negra and preached the 
Gospel there. Whitlock became deeply in- 
terested. In 1879 the Rev. Mr. Eastman 
and others visited that district and held 
meetings, and as one was preaching from 
the text, "Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye 
die?" Whitlock says: 

"I could resist the Spirit no longer. I 
turned from my wicked ways, and in March, 
1867;, I made an open confession of my faith 
in Christ." 

In 1883 Mr. Whitlock was employed as 
a colporteur by the Board of Publication and 
travelled through the northern counties dis- 
tributing tracts and other good literature. 
In 1884 Mr. Whitlock was appointed to assist 
the Rev. John Annin at Las Vegas. The 
church had become very weak, but was soon 
revived. Mr. Wlritlock continued to labor 
in the Las Vegas districts until 1892, when 
he was removed to Taos, and in 1898 to Lum- 
berton, where he is now the missionary to that 
whole region, Rio Arriba County. 



CHAPTER XII 

ENCOURAGEMENTS AND OUTLOOK 

" Go in to possess the land." — Josh. : i. 11. 

In April, 1904., the Presbyterian Church 
reported in New Mexico thirty-one churches 
among the Spanish-speaking people, with a 
membership of over one thousand. In Cali- 
fornia there are five churches with a mem- 
bership of about two hundred, and in Colorado 
twelve churches with a membership of nearly 
four hundred. In New Mexico four of the 
ordained missionaries are natives, and in 
Colorado, three. In addition, there are about 
twenty-five evangelists and helpers, all of 
whom are natives. 

By taking a review of the work of the 
Presbyterian Church in the Synod of New 
Mexico for the last Hive years we find only 
encouragement. 

On October 1st, 1898, there were forty-two 
organized churches, of which only three were 
self-sustaining, with a membership of nine- 
teen hundred and eighty-six. These churches 
were ministered to by twenty-one ordained 
ministers and twenty evangelists. 
98 



ENCOURAGEMENTS 99 

On October 1st, 1903, there were reported 
sixty-four organized churches, and six mis- 
sions where as yet no organization is com- 
pleted. Of these nine are self-sustaining. 
The membership is forty-four hundred and 
forty-six, of which one thousand are Mexicans 
and fifteen hundred Indians. There were 
added to the church during the year ending 
October 1st, 1903, six hundred and ninety- five 
members, of whom two hundred are Indians. 
These churches are ministered to by forty- 
two ordained ministers and twenty-five evan- 
gelists and helpers. 

During these years there have been erected 
or are now in course of erection nineteen 
churches, ten manses, and six school chapels, 
and during the year ending October 1st, 1903, 
the congregations report as raised for all 
church purposes $56,404, or $10,000 more 
than was raised in any preceding year. 

With such marked advance all along, for 
which all are truly thankful, we look for- 
ward with faith and hope to the coming 
years. 

With a total population nearing three hun- 
dred and fifty thousand, made up of Indians, 
native Mexicans, foreigners from every land, 
and Americans ; with mining and agricultural 
interests developing so rapidly; with the 
great railroad systems everywhere opening 



Lrffc 



100 OUR MEXICANS 

up the country; with springing villages, 
growing towns, and enlarging cities ; with the 
prospects of being admitted to statehood at 
an early date, the duty of individual Chris- 
tians and of the Church is very clear. 

Just as in other new States the herald of 
the Cross will be met with infidelity, intem- 
perance, and worldliness. These will stand, 
as they now do, in keen competition for the 
control of these States. Anarchy and every- 
thing that threatens public security will 
spring from unevangelized masses. In addi- 
tion to all these evils which are met else- 
where, we have to meet the fact that in this 
America of ours 40,000 Indians and 175,000 
American-born Mexicans are living without 
the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ which alone 
can mould and fashion and fit for true citi- 
zenship here and happiness hereafter. 

In view of all these facts, O Church of 
Christ, in this favored land, come to the help 
of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against 
the mighty! 

" The time of hope 
And of probation speeds on rapid wings 
Swift and returnless ; what thou hast to do 
Do with thy might. Haste, lift aloud thy voice 
And publish to the border of the pit 
The resurrection. Then when the ransomed come 
With gladness unto Zion, thou shalt joy to hear 



ENCOURAGEMENTS 101 

The valley and the hills break forth 
Before thee into singing. Thou shalt join 
The raptured strain, exulting that the Lord 
Jehovah, God Omnipotent, doth reign 
O'er all the earth." 



NATIVE MEXICAN WORKERS. 



(See Frontispiece. J 



1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9, 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 

17. 
18. 
19. 
20. 

21. 

22. 
23. 



Rev. John M. Whitlock, 
Vincente F. Romero (Lie.) 
Juan G. Quintana, . . 
Lucas Martinez, . . . 
Juan B. Torres, . . . 
Juan Baros (student), 
Eliseo C. Cordova (student), 
Juan G. Sanchez, . . . 
Tomas Atencio (student), 
Manuel Barcelon, . . . 
Rafael Q. Martinez, . . 
Manuel Sandoval, . . 
Rev. Gabino Rendon, 
Teofilo Tafoya (student), 



Lumberton, N. M. 

. . Taos, N. M, 

Las Cruces, N. M. 

. Vallecitos, N. M. 

. . Raton, N. M. 
Albuquerque, N. M. 
Albuquerque, N. M. 

Las Vegas, N. M. 

. Chimayo, N. M. 

Hall's Peak, N. M. 

. . Metcalf, Ariz. 

. . Chacon, N. M. 

. Santa Fe, N. M. 
Albuquerque, N. M. 

. Pajarito, N. M. 



Rev. Jose Ynes Perea, . 

Sam Sant Van Wagner (student), 

Albuquerque, N. M. 
Rev. John Mordy, . . . . , Laguna, N. M. 

Abelino Aguirre, Pefiasco, N. M. 

Rev. William Wallace, * . . Saltillo, Mexico. 
Rev. Henry C. Thomson, D. D.,t 

Albuquerque, N. M. 
Rev. Matthias Matthieson, . Socorro, N. M. 
Jose Emiterio Cruz, . . . Trementina, N. M. 
Rev. Manuel Madrid, Mora, N. M. 

* Assisting in conference by request. 

t In charge of Training Class for Evangelists. 






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